Showing posts with label organic farming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organic farming. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Congress Passes HR 2751 and Shafts Our Farmers

Have people lost their minds?

Seriously.

Whatever shred of that "faith-of-a-child" part of me which would like to believe our government is well-meaning, died this week with the passing of S.510 and HR 2751. That bill is now on it's way to the President to be signed into law.

Here's what it will mean to you:

The US government now will expand it's control over
the entire food industry.

• US farmers will be driven out of business, displacing generations-old business owners and families.

• It is expected that those wanting to enter into the farming business, as well as small local farmers who will grow for local co-ops and farmer's markets will meet with new criteria, making it more difficult to conduct business, resulting in market failures, loss of local food production jobs and a reduced supply of fresh seasonal, locally-grown organic produce. You can expect an increase in locally-grown produce prices.

• The bill may look well-intended, as it's titled the "Food Modernization Safety Act" (it sounds 'safe', right?), but it's not really about protecting us from food-born illness from salmonella and e.coli. And there are other shortcomings associated with it's coming into law.

• This law does not impact growers outside of the US, who are not required to meet S.510 food safety regulations. The US does not inspect international growers and farms.

• There will be an increase of importing produce.

• While farming opportunities will increase in other countries, they will decrease in the US, displacing farmers and their families.

• Many toxic pesticides which have been banned in the US are still legal to use in other countries, and these crops will be imported into the US for our consumption (as if the stuff that's still used here for conventionally grown crops isn't toxic enough!)

Some political candidates have recently lost elections in part due to the fact they outsourced jobs in their past careers. Now our own government is going to outsource our farming?

This will result in a lowered safe food supply.

With their vote, our Congress has taken jobs away from our farmers, and increased production in other countries who still use toxic pesticides which have been banned in the US due to toxicity. This will have an obvious deleterious impact on the food safety and sustainability by driving our small, local organic farmers out of business.

In his recent newsletter, Mike Adams said, "The knowledge of our local farmers who know how to grow, harvest and distribute food is far more valuable to the security of our nation than preventing a relatively small number of people from getting sick from e.coli each year (even if such a trade-off were a simplistic equation, which it isn't). Because if we lose food security, then we become slaves to the big corporate food producers who are attempting to centralize food production and place food, seeds and crops under their absolute control."

Mike also went on to say, "A cynic might even suggest that was the shole purpose of the food safety bill in the first place: To destroy small farmers and centralize food production power in the hands of a few wealthy coporations. Whether that was the intent or not, it is certainly going to be the effect.
What Congress has done with this food safety bill, in effect, is to cripple America's food production know-how and poison the population with far more dangerous pesticide-ridden produce that will now be imported from other countries instead. This bill should have been called the "Mexico Farming Jobs Act" because it's going to shift countless jobs south of the border as farms in the USA realize they simply can't operate under the immense burden of FDA regulatory tyranny."

What's in our future?
Look for the California Cruciferous Cartel. New Jersey will have their 'Mater Mafia. Nebraska will become known as the Nib-Nabbers.

Sheesh...who would ever would have thought there'd be a day when we'd be smuggling broccoli?






Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Truth About and History of the So-Called "Food Safety Modernization Act"

LNH NOTE: This article is courtesy of Mike Adams, NaturalNews. We already know that S.510/HR2751 is not about "safety"; now we will learn how it's not "modern", either, as revealed in Mike's compelling report.

••••••••••••••••••••

In arguing for S.510, the "Food Safety Modernization Act," there are all sorts of attorneys, legislators and internet commentators who keep claiming, "The government won't try to control the food production of small farms." They say, "Your backyard garden is safe" and that the feds won't come knocking on your door to control your seeds or foods.

As usual, these pushers of Big Government are utterly ignorant of the history in their own country. Because as you'll learn right here, not only CAN the U.S.
government control and dictate to single-family farms what they can grow in their own backyards; the government has already blatantly done so!

In this
article, I'll share with you the full and true story of how Big Government has already run rampant over the rights of individuals to grow their own food-- I'll even cite the US Supreme Court decision that "legalized" this tyranny.


Learn more:


Feds order farmer to destroy his own wheat crops:
The shocking revelations of Wickard vs Filburn

How the tyrants came after a farmer named Roscoe Filburn
It all starts with a farmer named Roscoe Filburn, a modest farmer who grew wheat in his own back yard in order to feed his chickens.

One day, a U.S. government official showed up at his farm. Noting that Filburn was growing a lot of wheat, this government official determined that Filburn was growing
too much wheat and ordered Filburn to destroy his wheat crops and pay a large fine to the federal government.

The year was 1940, you see. And through a highly protectionist policy, the federal government had decided to artificially drive up the
prices of wheat by limiting the amount of wheat that could be grown on any given acre. This is all part of Big Government's "infinite wisdom" of trying to somehow improve prosperity by destroying food and impairing economic productivity. (Be wary any time the government says it's going to "solve problems" for you.)

The federal government, of course, claims
authority over all commerce (even when such claims are blatantly in violation of the limitations placed upon government by the Constitution). But Roscoe Filburn wasn't selling his wheat to anyone. Thus, he was not engaged in interstate commerce. He wasn't growing wheat as something to use for commerce at all, in fact. He was simply growing wheat in his back yard and feeding it to his chickens. That's not commerce. That's just growing your own food.

But get this: The government insisted he pay a fine and destroy his wheat, so Filburn took the government to court, arguing that
the federal government had no right to tell a man to destroy his food crops just because they wanted to protect some sort of artificially high prices in the wheat market.

This case eventually went to the US Supreme Court. It's now known as
Wickard v. Filburn, and it is one of the most famous US Supreme Court decisions ever rendered because it represents a gross expansion of the tyranny of the federal government.

The US Supreme Court sided with government tyranny

The US Supreme Court, you see, ruled that Roscoe Filburn's wheat could be regulated and destroyed by the federal government simply because Roscoe's wheat production might reduce the amount of wheat he bought from other wheat producers and therefore could impact interstate trade.

Now stay with me on this, because this is a really, really important point to understand.

The federal government claimed authority under the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8), even though the Commerce Clause was originally written primarily to prevent states from erecting tariffs, not to allow the federal government to control interstate trade. But thanks to the twisted interpretation of the government -- and believe me, the government will twist every interpretation it can in an effort to assert more power over the population -- the feds claimed that Filburn's growing of his own wheat effectively reducedinterstate commerce in wheat. Therefore, they reasoned, they could regulate his backyard wheat production (and order him to destroy his wheat).

Because of this US Supreme Court decision in 1942, it now means
the federal government can order you to halt food production in your own back yard by arguing that when you grow your own food, the amount of food you purchase from other food providers is reduced, meaning that your food production impacts interstate trade and therefore can be fully controlled by the federal government.

In other words, the federal government claims the authority
right now -- even without the Food Safety Modernization Act -- to knock on your door and order you at gunpoint to destroy all the food in your garden, your greenhouse or your farm. They can order you to destroy all seeds in your possession and all food harvested from your own garden. And they can do all this with the full protection of U.S. law by simply citing the precedent set in Wickard v. Filburn in 1942 as ruled by the US Supreme Court.

Why the naysayers will probably starve
Still think you have the right to grow your own food? I've heard all sorts of naysayers claiming that S.510 -- the Food Safety Modernization Act -- is no threat to small growers and family farms. They say the fears about S.510 are overblown and that the government can't possibly shut down your backyard gardens or small, local vegetable farms. They say this with the kind of smug certainty you might typically hear from a doctor who thinks he knows everything about human health (but who actually knows nothing about nutrition).

These naysayers tend to operate out of an assumption that Big Government will never take away their rights and
freedoms and that expanding the reach of agencies such as the TSA, FDA, DEA and FTC with even more power and more armed agents is a good thing because the government always takes care of the people. We need more protection from e.coli, they argue, so let's unleash 4,000 armed FDA agents instead to protect us from bacteria. (But who will protect us from the FDA?)

What these ignorant naysayers don't understand is that
government is constantly trying to expand its power to the point of tyranny. As a current example of this, look at what just happened with Chavez in Venezuela. He has now been granted what are essentially dictatorial powers over the country (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121802933.html). Chavez is now the King of Venezuela, and whatever he says is now law. Venezuelan citizens are now slaves to his tyranny, and they must follow his orders or be executed.

The United States is moving in precisely the same direction. First, power gets stripped away from the People little by little. Then it gets concentrated in the hands of a few regulatory agencies who write their own laws and who stay in power year after year because none of their officials are elected. (Think the FDA commissioner is elected by the people? Think again…) And then, over time, a few powerful individuals concentrate power from those agencies into their own hands. Before long, the country is run by a handful of power-crazed tyrants who disregard all freedoms and rights of the People.

This is precisely what the FDA is doing with the Food Safety Modernization Act. Backed by yet more funding and a new army of agents, plus the Supreme Court ruling that says the federal government can order you to destroy the food you're growing in your own back yard, the FDA can now
pillage the countryside, going from farm to farm and house to house, burning fields and ordering the citizenry to destroy their plants, seeds and crops. This is exactly what they've been doing to raw milk producers and food coops, by the way (http://www.naturalnews.com/030136_Rawesome_foods_raid.html).

That is no exaggeration. It is a documented "legal" precedent established in Wickard vs Filburn, and it can be used at any moment to destroy the ability of people to grow their own food, thereby making these people totally dependent on dead
processed food (which is always FDA approved if it's dead, of course) made in food factories that churn out nutritional deficiencies and death.

What will you eat when the government destroys your local food supply?
You see, under the argument that your backyard garden "impacts interstate commerce," the federal government can order you to simply spray Roundup on your entire garden in order to kill it.

What will you eat then? When the GMO crops suffer a mass catastrophic failure, and the monocultured wheat dies from a global viral infection called
ug99 "rust"
(http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/archives/ug99-will-wheat-rust-cause-a-catastrophic-global-famine), what will you eat?

If the government has its way, you won't eat at all. You'll starve to death under the "protection" of the
food safety thugs at the FDA who don't believe any "live" food is safe in the first place (hence their war against raw milk).

Those people who have the foresight to grow their own gardens and protect their food sources from the tyranny of the federal government may actually have a chance at surviving. The rest will simply starve while waiting in
government food lines where the feds hand out nutritionally worthless cheese and other depleted processed foods that Sesame Street absurdly thinks are "superfoods" (http://www.naturalnews.com/030626_muppets_Sesame_Street.html).

Big Government declares war on the local food movement

Make no mistake, folks: the government is attempting to destroy the local food movement. They are trying to wipe out small, organic farms that compete with corporate agribiz in the same way the FDA has long plotted to destroy natural health supplement companies who compete with Big Pharma.

It's all about wiping out the little guys and protecting the monopoly markets of the largest and most influential corporations that are poisoning the earth and destroying your health. As Wickard vs Filburn clearly demonstrated,
the government does not believe you have any natural right or Constitutional right to grow your own food. In fact, the government believes it has the right to order you to destroy your food at the time of its choosing.

Don't think this could happen to you? Filburn didn't either. The idea that his own government would show up at his door and order him to burn his field of wheat was simply unimaginable. Similarly, the idea that the FDA would tear across the countryside wiping out small
family farms is unimaginable to many Americans today. But that's only because they don't know their own history and they put far too much faith in the flimsy idea that the government somehow, in some way, respects the rights and freedoms of the People.

The obvious falsehood of that idea is evident in the way we are all being treated by the
TSA. Who would have thought, just two years ago, that we'd be subjected to government-enforced molestation at the hands of airport security screeners? That idea seems unthinkable at the time, much like the idea that the FDA could seize your garden seeds or order you to destroy your greenhouse crops. Yet such actions are already within the claimed power of the federal government… merely waiting to be invoked at the time of their choosing.

Traitors to freedom

All those who voted for S.510 -- which includes the entire U.S. Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike -- are traitors to the freedoms upon which America was founded. They have thrust our food supply into the hands of tyrants who are just waiting to exercise their control and "authority" over as many people as possible.


Five years ago, I joked that people might one day be arrested for smuggling broccoli across state lines. Today, that joke has become a sad reality. The mere act of growing food and selling it to your neighbor without government permission is about to become a criminal act. And no, small farms are not "exempt" from S.510. They must provide financial information and apply to the FDA to be granted exemption status. That sounds a lot like slaves begging for mercy from the king, doesn't it?

Keep the big picture in mind as you consider all this: When teens are poisoned by the aspartame in diet soda, the FDA does nothing. When children are given cancer by the sodium nitrite in hot dogs, the FDA does nothing. When countless thousands of Americans suffer heart attacks and cardiovascular disease each year from the partially-hydrogenated oils used throughout the food supply, the FDA does nothing. But when you grow fresh produce in your own back yard and carry it to your local farmer's market to sell it without government permission,
you will be arrested by the FDA as a criminal.

Shame on all those who supported this bill.
May history have mercy on their souls for the suffering and injustices they have unleashed upon us all.

Monday, November 29, 2010

The S.510 Vote Has Been Delayed til Tuesday! CALL YOUR SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO VOTE "NO" ON S.510!

The phone lines were jammed in DC today, thanks to those who called their senators offices and urged them to vote "NO" on S.510, the giant step back known as "Food Modernization Act of 2010".



Here's the link to the senators contact information:

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATOR'S DC OFFICE AND POLITELY SAY "VOTE NO ON S.510".

There's no need to elaborate, unless you feel compelled to do so. They will ask for your zip code -- and that's all there is to it. Every call is counted, and the senators get the sheets as they go into session, so they are aware of the sentiments of their constituency. Many people emailed, detailing their thoughts about the convoluted nature of the bill. Some have been surprised they heard back so quickly from their representative's offices. This bill is a very big deal, and requires everyone's attention.

For more information, read Mike Adam's newsletter here:

Mike closes this update with these thoughts:

Why we need to delineate the right to grow food in the next Bill of Rights

This also reminds me to point out that after the U.S. collapses from total financial and moral bankruptcy -- which seems to be getting closer by the day -- we must all remember that in the next society, we need to add "The Right to Grow, Harvest and Exchange Our Own Food" into the next Bill of Rights. Because that's exactly what's being stripped away from the American people with the passage of S.510.

Remember, too, that the FDA already took away your right to learn the truth about nutritional supplements and natural remedies. It has sought to destroy the natural products industry. Now it's poised to take away your access to raw milk while burdening food producers with outrageous new paperwork requirements -- all while ignoring the real causes of the food contaminations, which are actually caused by factory animal farms.

The people who are in support of this bill -- including several big-name food authors who should frankly know better -- are
selling out to the agricultural giants and aligning themselves with the dark powers in government who seek to destroy food freedom.

"Food is no less a weapon than tanks, guns, and planes." said Franklin D. Roosevelt. And now the U.S. Senate is making sure that
food controls can be used against the American people in exactly the same way the Patriot Act is now being used to crush our civil liberties.

OC


Sunday, November 28, 2010

Take Action on S.510 - Push Back NOW!

Senate Bill S.510 is up for vote Monday. This bill, known as the "Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010", is not about food OR safety. It's about criminalization. Everyone knows that e.coli is from factory animals. Those who wrote this bill must think that you are pretty stupid to believe that factory animals have a place in organic farming and backyard gardens.

But wait...there's more criminalization!..... a 1099 reporting requirement, too, which will have small business owners running around to anywhere they spent over $600, turning them into paperwork pack rats.

And if S.510 isn't bad enough, there's a companion bill S.3767 which will reintroduce criminal penalties for anyone who sells what the government will later decides was 'adulterated' or 'misbranded' food, a provision which had been removed from the House-passed "Food Safety" version last year (HR.1279).

Dietary supplements are covered under this provision. It used to be that the FDA would send a warning letter telling a company its claims were illegal and the company would either change the claims or defend them. If this bill passes, FDA can simply start by bringing criminal charges any time it determines that a claim is not allowed.

The political insiders plan, our contacts tell us, to add S.3767 to S.510 so the penalties can be in the final bill approved by the House/Senate conference committee, if We the People allow S.510 to pass the US Senate!

What does this mean?
Here is what the bill actually says:
"S.3767 -- Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010 (Introduced in Senate - IS)
111th CONGRESS - 2d Session

To establish appropriate criminal penalties for certain knowing violations relating to food that is misbranded or adulterated.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

September 13, 2010

Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Mr. FRANKEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To establish appropriate criminal penalties for certain knowing violations relating to food that is misbranded or adulterated.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Food Safety Accountability Act of 2010'.

SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTIES.

(a) In General- Chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`Sec. 1041. Misbranded and adulterated food

`(a) In General- It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly--

`(1) introduce or deliver for introduction into interstate commerce any food that is adulterated or misbranded; or

`(2) adulterate or misbrand any food in interstate commerce.

`(b) Penalty- Any person who violates subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.'.

(b) Technical and Conforming Amendment- The table of sections for chapter 47 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

`1041. Misbranded and adulterated food.'."
Senate calendar:
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/d_three_sections_with_teasers/calendars.htm

Click here to find the link to your state representative contact information:

Please contact your state representatives and tell them to vote "NO!" on S.510. Senate votes on this MONDAY, November 29, 2010.


OC

Monday, November 22, 2010

Smart City Governments Grow Produce to Feed Their People

Great news! Smart thinkers are alive and well in city governments. Baltimore, MD, Bainbridge Island, WA, Des Moines, IA, and Madison, WI, are examples of forward-thinking cities who have replaced the lawns, shrubs, underutilized parks, plazas, street meridians, and parking lots with fruits and vegetable gardens. Many believe it makes more sense to spend resources to grow edibles in this economy, rather than ornamental plantings.

It is the job of municipal policy makers to continually strive to create programs to increase quality of life for their citizens, and this plan ensures the health, safety and welfare of citizens as much as other city government-provided services, and fosters a sense of community. This "Public Produce" promotes healthy eating, and bolsters food security by providing passersby with access to low or no-cost fruits and vegetables.

Davenport, IA, is taking this plan to the next level by converting an underutilized one acre parking lot into a space filled with orchards, gardens and grapevines. $370.000 has been allocated for construction, with ongoing maintenance supplied by volunteers from United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters and local students and business owners. One restaurants owner will grow and harvest hard-to-find ingredients for his authentic dishes in this space.

I just love a story with a happy ending.

Next time you're driving around where you live, make note of an under-utilized space in your community, and suggest this plan to improve your area at your next city hall meeting.

OC


Sunday, November 21, 2010

See Video Footage From RAWESOME Food Coop Raid

Imagine, gun-wielding officials coming into your kitchen to take your milk, honey and eggs. You'd think that could never happen in the 'land of the free', but it does -- and more frequently than people realize.

With guns drawn, no less than five government agencies raided Rawesome Food Coop in Venice, California last summer, confiscating 17 coolers of raw milk, raw honey, and raw cane syrup. The photo above is cut from the surveillance footage at Rawesome.

In addition, the officials intentionally spoiled thousands of dollars in raw inventory by intentionally leaving the refrigerator doors open. They also said they needed to take 'samples', but they took 20+ jars of the same raw honey.

If a non-government citizen, such as yourself, committed these unconscionable acts that were committed by the government officials at Rawesome, they'd be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, some sort of stealing charge, whatever that's called when people ransack and destroy property, and more. There'd be fines imposed and, no doubt, jail time served. I'm not a lawyer, but you get the idea. It's just plain wrong.

So, what's this REALLY about?

Organic farming and consumer demand for organic products are on a steady, fast-track rise, which poses a threat to those parties who are motivated to "own" the world food source, such as Monsanto and other manufacturers of GMO seeds.

Senate Bill S-510 is up for vote on November 29, 2010. Our government has tried to make us fearful and believe that raw is wrong and will hurt us. The fact is, even those who are 'lactose intolerant' are able to assimilate raw milk, which by scientific accounts is a 'perfect food'. That said, pasteurization destroys all that is good and nutritious in milk.

There's been much debate about unpasteurized foods and food safety. Obviously, the raid on Rawesome and other food coops has nothing to do with 'food safety' or the S510 "Food Safety Modernization Act". After all, it's common knowledge that e.coli, salmonella and other pathogens which taint our food source are from factory farm animals, not unprocessed raw foods.

Whether or not you are a milk-drinker, beef-eater or raw food consumer, we urge you to take a moment to preserve your freedoms and those of your friends, family, and generations to come by placing a call to the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 to STOP S510. Or call your state senators here:
When the person answers the phone, just tell them you say "NO" to S510. That's all there is to it. It's that easy.

Feel free to sign the petition here:

Check out the video surveillance footage of the raid and interviews at Rawesome here:

OC

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Senate Bill 510 Delayed 'til November 29 -- The Capitol Needs to Hear From YOU!

We've been given the gift of delay for the final vote on the dangerous S510 bill ("Food Safety Modernization Act") that would expand FDA's power over our farms, seeds, farmer's markets, raw milk and greenhouses. As part of this debate over the safety of the food supply, Senator Mike Johanns is making a courageous attempt to kill the new, idiotic 1099 reporting requirement that would require every person running a small business in America to get 1099 forms from Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Costco, Amazon.com or any other retailer where they've spent over $600 in the previous year.

This absolute nightmare of 1099 paperwork was passed as part of the Obamacare health care
reform
legislation earlier this year (http://www.naturalnews.com/028854_1099_small_business.html). It will turn America's small business owners into paperwork pack rats and criminalize anyone who doesn't spent several hundred hours a year chasing 1099 forms from corporations that are almost certain to refuse to give them to you. This is the government's way of penalizing small business owners in America and killing off yet more jobs as a way to destroy the economy.

This 1099 recall is the only real positive thing being considered in the Food Safety and Modernization Act. And as you've probably noticed, it has nothing to do with
food.

LNH doesn't have a problem with making wise, sensible improvements in food safety, but giving the government control over seeds, backyard gardens and small organic farms is not an improvement, nor is it about 'food safety'.

As we now know, the problem with e.coli, salmonella and other
pathogens in the food supply is really a problem with factory animal farms -- notably cattle and chicken operations. That's where these pathogens come from (e.coli grows in the intestines of animals), so cleaning up factory animal farms is the answer to food safety, not invoking the FDA and its food irradiation agenda.

Why would anyone want to grant more power to the FDA when they've killed more Americans through corruption, fraud and negligence than any other organization in US history? Read Mike Adams' story detailing how putting the FDA in charge of our national food supply can only lead to disaster: http://www.naturalnews.com/030461_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.html

Your voice needs to be heard, and because the vote has been delayed until after the Thanksgiving recess, you have more time to oppose this dangerous legislation. Why wait? Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121, and ask to be directly connected to your Senator's office:

You can find other contact information for your US Senator at:

You can also petition at Citizens for Health:

and

Natural Solutions Foundation:
This is petition is sent to your senators as well as President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius. Her direct email address is included, so feel free to send her a note. It doesn't have to be long -- a sentence or two will be just as effective.


OC