Yesterday I finally received a response to my open records request to the Department of Ag Trade and Consumer Protection for “All licenses, permits, records, reports and notices of exempt operations pursuant to State statute § 93.35 and ATCP 54.06 regarding weather modification.”
The response from Brian D. Kuhn was “We have no records of anyone ever having applied for a license or permit related to weather modification, nor have we any notices of exempt operations pursuant to statute §93.35 and ATCP 54.06.” Interesting that the response took over a month before I received it, which raises questions the greater concern is that despite the extensive private and governmental record requirements impose by statute none exist in the history of the statute. With the advent of the documentary “What in the World are They Spraying” a reasonable person would expect that an agency charged with consumer protection would be enforcing these statutes.
DATCP’s track record for this type of protection is woefully inadequate, despite thousands of complaints only few are investigated and none are prosecuted. Unless the complaint is generated by DATCP officials in order to obtain warrants to raid farms. An act itself in violation of statute as all complaints must issue from a consumer inclusively.
But living up to the letter of the law isn’t DATCP’s forte, in fact in yet another open records request it came to light that Randy Romanski, the recently appointed Secretary is operating under color of office, having never taken his oath of office and recording said oath with the Secretary of State.
§ 17.03 Vacancies, how caused. Except as otherwise provided, a public office is vacant when:
(7) A person elected or appointed or reelected or reappointed to any office neglects or refuses to take and file the official oath or to execute or renew the official bond if required, or to file the oath or bond as prescribed by law.
Don’t get your hopes up, seems as though the black robe society has ruled that because the legislature provided no penalty provisions in the statute that anyone failing to file an oath or bond can continue in that position until successfully challenged and convicted in a court, and that all acts done in this dejure/defacto status are valid. . How about plugging in a class I felony for failure to perform a ministerial duty?
Interesting note is that there were no penalty provisions in the Premises Registration statute either.
When DATCP can’t get what it wants directly they send in USDA APHIS to conduct night raids and interrogations of farmers, coercing farmers into signing affidavits, without counsel present, agreeing to answer questions regarding their farming activities. Interesting coincidence that the raids initiated on the same day the USDA announced its appointments to citizens group for animal identification. A reward for services rendered no doubt.
This is the first of a three part series delving into the goings on here in wisconSIN. Next will be the states persecution of yours truly and the final segment as to the proposed remedy by Governor elect Walker.
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
Originally published in August 2009
Greetings:
Consider this a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to all members of the Senate, all members of the House, and to President Obama. I am sure you are fully aware of the intent and implications of MOUs, as each of you, in one way or another, uses them to establish the outlining of agreements between yourselves, collectively or individually, concerning the agreements you have made with individuals acting as state’s representatives or agencies; generally to avoid Constitutional prohibitions on your intended actions and in avoidance of the Constitution. I am using it in quite another fashion as you will see in the following text. More
AP: S.510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has Codex Alimentarius written all over it. By now, this much should be apparent. Besides the cumbersome regulations accompanied with traceability provisions which are merely a cover for surveillance to prevent small or local farmers from providing food outside of the corporate system, the bill gives unprecedented power over food production to FDA, HHS, and DHS.
Overbearing regulations aimed at small food producers that provide larger facilities with an unfair advantage are a hallmark of Codex guidelines. Likewise, the ability of the FDA, HHS, and DHS to implement various standards independently, or as a result of executive decrees, signals the coming Codex principles to the American food supply. This much has been well documented in recent publications. More
Live Link: Liberty News Online _______________________________________________________
The following is a list of U.S Senators and the Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that these Senators received from Special Interest Groups to either support or oppose S.510 – The FDA Food Safety and Modernization Act. I have listed the names of the Senators, the Party and State, and the amount of Special Interest Bribes (I mean campaign contributions) that they received:
Name of Senator – Party & State – Bribe For S.510 or Bribe Against S.510
Daniel Akaka – D HI – Bribe For: $27,690 – Against: $700
Lamar Alexander – R TN – Bribe For: $190,421 – Against: $4,850
John Barrasso – R WY – For: $31,350 – Against: $27,500
Max Baucus – D MT – Bribe for: $123,803 – Against: $55,980
Evan Bayh – D IN – Bribe For: $45,200 – Against: 8,250
Mark Begich – D AK – Bribe For: $23,050 – Against: $2,000
Michael Bennet – D CO – Bribe For: $38,509 – Against: $22,050
Robert Bennett – R UT – Bribe For: $105,530 – Against: $10,000
Jeff Bingaman – D NM – Bribe For: $31,498 – Against: $8,450
Christopher Bond – R MO – Bribe For: $49,550 – Against: $5,200
Barbara Boxer – D CA – Bribe For: $120,000 – Against: $13,650 More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
____________________________________________
Comment: Apparently Harry Reid only talks to himself
In a quick announcement as the Senate convened, Harry Reid, Senate majority leader said that the vote on S.510 fake food safety bill would take place Monday evening, the 29th, at 6:30 PM, CST and that no voting would occur today. According to Reid, all the dirty deals intended to criminalize and sell out American farmers and ranchers and our food supply, were still being worked on behind closed doors, although I believe he referred to them as amendments. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
_______________________________________________
Why is “free trade at any expense” reserved only for multi-national corporations? Why is every other sector of the economy supposed to be allowed to engage in a free-for-all at the entire countries expense, but when it comes to family and independent agriculture there are literally hundreds of thousands of regulations, limitations, rules, and requirements, licensing, and forfeiture of rights, spanning multiple agencies who spend the bulk of their funding on “enforcement” of what usually amounts to nothing less than an interference in trade, profit and viability and which many times constitute an open assault on Constitutionally protected property and individual rights.
_______________________________________________
I can only imagine the salivating occurring behind the scenes in the District of Criminals, as the corporations and interested parties including the World Trade Organization, Codex Committees and other vested stakeholders anticipate the passage of S.510, the fake food safety bill. Should this bill pass, we as a country will be officially divested not only of our sovereignty but of our independence. No country in the history of the world has survived for long without a strong and independent agricultural sector. Take that away, and the fall of the country soon follows. No nation that cannot, or will not, feed its own people, ever survives. Independent agriculture is and always has been the backbone and the underlying support for economic stability and security. It is this support and security that S.510 seeks to destroy.
S.510 is not about food safety; it is however the last lynchpin in the seizure of food production and supply that was begun under Bush the Lesser. Control the food; control the people.
This same model envisioned in S.510 was used in recent years in Poland. An estimated 60% of Polish farms are now gone. In India, more than 8 million farmers have left their farms as a result of similar systems implemented by the World Trade Organization on behalf of bio-pirates of all kinds. Here in the US an estimated 1/3 of all farms that existed in 2000, have now vanished. We are, according to farmaid.org , losing 3-500 farms and ranches every week as the industrialized corporate machine being driven by congress and its agencies rolls across our land. Food safety never was the issue. Food as a Weapon is another story. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All rights Reserved
_____________________________________________
S..510 calls for the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to contact the governors of each state to determine which agencies within the state will contract on behalf of the state to administer the USDA/FDA federal plans for seizing control of food production and supply, handing it over to multi-national corporations and setting into motion the eradication of family and independent farms and ranches. These new “business plans” (which is what S.510 is, a business plan), require contracting with state agencies accompanied of course, by bags of USDA bribery money called “cooperative funding”.
_______________________________________________
The federal government, including Senator Reid, who is yet again pushing for a vote on S.510, the fake food safety bill, know they cannot pass any enforceable law on the federal level dealing with agriculture; it is not in the enumerated powers, and will exist only as a non-positive code and title. Because these “laws” are outside the scope of the federal government, they cannot be used to criminalize what was other wise your right to do without their interference. Non-positive code and title, in this case Title 7 USC, cannot be revised, codified and assigned a public law number as these corporate codes are outside the authority of the federal government. Should S.510 pass, it is null and void on its face, as if it never existed, but not one of your Senators or Representatives will tell you this.
In an effort to bypass congress and the president so that none of these illustrious individuals can be held directly accountable for this act of aggression, this selling out of America’s farms and ranches, this selling off of our national security regarding food under the threat of further contamination which these same agencies facilitated by their refusal to act in our defense as they contracted against us, the USDA and FDA have become the most clear and present danger to the US and, congress in both houses is enabling this threat.
USDA and FDA are sliding onto the Federal Register and attempting to expand their power and authority by claiming a “presumption” of authority which they were never intended to have. Every attempt is made to change the “rules” on the register and then claim they have this new power because no one objected and rebutted their assertions. When rebuttals, using law, are presented on the register which has been done FDA and USDA fall silent and just proceed on as if nothing happened. Of course, not one word from those Senators or Representatives about this; they were probably out to lunch with corporate donors.
It is expected, that failure to pass this assault on private agriculture and the intent to export as much of the US food supply as possible, President Obama will incrementally implement the provisions of S.510 using Executive Orders and using the Food Czar’s office to issue edicts and mandates that we, as citizens of the sovereign states will be told, we must comply with. No hell we don’t have to comply. More
Quote of the Day: “Given sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine.” — Woody Page, Denver sports columnist
S. 510 will make your food more expensive and less safe. It will drive many small farms out of business. The leaders of the “lame duck” Congress want to pass this falsely named “food safety” bill NEXT WEEK, but . . .
They’ll need 60 votes to break Sen. Coburn’s “hold” on the bill.
That means we can defeat S.510 with just 40 votes, but we must apply the pressure now!
As recently as 2008, the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the USDA, reported that there was virtually no grain stores left in the US. Of the 24.1 million bushels in reserve, only 2.7 million bushels remained after the bulk of the grain stores were given for humanitarian relief. While some of the grain may have been used for humanitarian purposes, there is no evidence to support this contention. Furthermore, the use of the term humanitarian does not necessarily mean that the grain wasn’t sold, its just meant to condition public thinking into believing the grain was given away to hungry people. I would bet that wasn’t the case at all.
There has been no effort by USDA or CCC to re-establish our strategic grain reserves. The purpose of the CCC is to maintain a balanced supply of food commodities as a strategic backup in case of emergency and is charged with distributing those back up supplies to the population should they be needed. The strategic reserves which had been established as a result of the Great Depression were depleted in the 1980’s and USDA at that time announced it would not re-establish this back up and of course our current bio-tech pandering Ag secretary isn’t about to re-establish them either. More
“Had this bill been about food safety, it would have contained provisions to expand and support family farms and ranches; it would have encouraged the entry into, and support of next generation farmers and ranchers. Instead of shoving Agenda 21 mandates on us that come with titles such as “Best Farming” Best Land Management” and other idiotic WTO platitudes that are anything but the best practices, this bill would have encouraged gathering of generational knowledge about the land, the animals, crops, harvesting, food storage and preparation”
________________________________________________
Why is it, every time the jackasses in the District of Criminals have run some program into the ground, squandered massive amounts of dollars while letting corporations write bills that benefit them and rape and rob the states, they always come out and say; “the system is broken”. “We’ve got to fix the system, it is broken”. It’s an emergency! We have to do something right now! And that is all quickly followed by one phony “crisis” after another as they try to scare the public into believing the “crisis” just magically and mysteriously appeared. That’s just how bad the system is broken! Like the magic egg contamination that just somehow appeared the week before they pushed S.510 the fake food safety bill onto the floor of the Senate. How damn handy was that?! Never mind that FDA knew about that way back last March when it was initially detected in Oregon. A contamination that was allowed to reach epic proportions so that it could be used to scare you into thinking the only thing that could have saved us from these terrorist eggs….was S.510.
The battle over S.510, The Fake Food Safety bill is not over. At stake are the severely reduced numbers of family and independent farmers and ranchers who have historically been the backbone of our economy and who produced the safest and most abundant food supply in the world. If the intent of S.510 was to preserve and protect our agricultural sector, I would support it. The fact is, it is intended to industrialize agriculture and centralize it in the hands of multi-national corporations. While USDA and FDA and Homeland Security and a host of other privately owned government corporations, harp about the centralization of the food supply and how this must be avoided, the truth is, they are intending to do just that.
If this fake food safety bill had actually been written to deal with food safety in the US, it would have been centered on several key issues, none of which are addressed in the bill, and would not be focused on how to criminalize the ownership and control of agricultural property and the products derived from it for family and independent producers here in the US. More
” furthermore, I take offense at the practice of titling proposed legislation in a way that, at best, obscures its true intent and purposes and, at worst, misstates it altogether – a practice documented for us by George Orwell, honed by the Communists in the Soviet Union, and perfected in recent years by the U.S. Congress.” More
This is the text of a letter to my Senators regarding S.510:
Senate S. 510 has nothing to do with keeping food safe:
· passage of this onerous legislation, which began at 50 pages and now exceeds 200 pages, will burden farmers and small food producers with FDA inspections and hefty fees and fines – even though food contamination scares have originated from large industrial processors,
· several requirements duplicate and override what is already done at the state level, More
by: Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Vilsack alludes to the fact that USDA will establish “partnerships” between state and federal government. These partnerships are necessary as Title 7 of the US Code is non-positive law. This means Title 7 Agriculture, has never been codified into law and is not enforceable on the federal level as agriculture is not in the enumerated powers of the federal government.
_______________________________________________
A March 2, 2010 Agriculture Committee hearing televised live on CSPAN gives a clear picture of what’s ahead for domestic farmers, ranchers and herders in the US.. Deputy Secretary Kathleen A. Merrigan cheerfully announced the “new age of enforcement” citing the intent to increase “risk assessment and better surveillance”. In other words……based on only their assumption there might be a problem but with no real cause or evidence, the USDA in cooperation with bought and paid for state agriculture departments that took bribe money to implement the USDA business plans for creating a police state, USDA is stepping up its assault on domestic farming and ranching.
One way or another, the seizure of privately owned agricultural property is going to take place; the USDA will seize control of the US food supply. More
Lynn Swearingen (c) copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
With the recent decision to temporarily hold off on GM Salmon production, I thought it might be time again to visit the GM Minutia from around the globe.
Attention Monsanto : You may save the fraction of several hundred thousand dollars paid to Blackwater, now known as Xe, that might be wasted by “monitoring activities” here at The PPJ Gazette’s. One understands that the corporation is attempting to find the keywords, taglines and tricky phrases used to identify those of us who find the production of GMO’s offensive to nature and mankind – there – saved you a few bucks.
Organic Egg Business Being Hijacked by Corporate
Agribusinesses—Help Reverse this Scandal!
Meeting October 25-28, 2010 in Madison, Wisconsin
Attend or mail in your proxy letter ASAP!
Imagine 80,000 laying hens in a single building, crowded in confinement conditions, on “farms” with hundreds of thousands or a million birds. Is that organic?
How about a tiny enclosed concrete porch, accessible by only 3%-5% of the tens of thousands of birds inside a henhouse. Does that pass as outdoor access as required by federal organic law?
Industrial-scale egg producers are gaming the system with their livestock management shortcuts and are placing family-scale organic farmers at a competitive disadvantage. Some pasture-based organic farmers have already been driven out of the organic egg business.
The organic community has an opportunity to reverse this scandal and support authentic organic agriculture. The USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will be debating the meaning of outdoor access and stocking densities for organic poultry and other livestock at the upcoming meeting in Madison, Wis., October 25-28. More
Live Link: Morphcity
By Cassandra Anderson
July 28, 2010
Thirty states will be encroached upon by Obama’s Executive Order establishing the National Ocean Council for control over America’s oceans, coastlines and the Great Lakes. Under this new council, states’ coastal jurisdictions will be subject to the United Nations’ Law Of Sea Treaty (LOST) in this UN Agenda 21 program. America’a oceans and coastlines will be broken into 9 regions that include the North East, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, the Gulf Coast, West Coast, the Great Lakes, Alaska, the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii) and the Caribbean. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
__________________________________________
The pressure is really on to ram S.510 Fake Food Safety through the Senate. Democrats know they will most likely lose at least the House in the midterm, but I believe even they suspect they will lose the Senate too. Their corporate donors and investors want this bill passed. They want an end to all competition from family and independent producers and complete control of the US food production and supply and too many politicians on both sides of the fictional isle owe too many of these big sponsors. They are going to sell us out while railing about how we can’t fix the system unless we pass this bill handing agriculture over to corporations and agreements meant to destroy the last vestige of our economy. Claiming that the bill is supported by industry (red flag!!), he also claims consumer groups support the bill. And some do. But Senator Durbin never mentioned the massive outrage and backlash by the public in general over this obvious corporate coup’ being perpetrated by the District of Criminals.
As a C-Span junkie I can tell you I have seen copious amounts of political manure spread just as thick as possible during hearings and what is supposed to pass for debates, but today in the Senate, I believe Senator Durbin topped the all time high “BS” mark for this particular pile of political manure.
I could not believe this Senator actually stood on the floor of the Senate and bemoaned the suffering and deaths of American people; people who were sick and dying right at this moment! As a result of S.510 not being passed. Unfortunate for the Senator was the fact that not one of those he alluded to would have been saved even had S 510 been passed years ago, as this bill does nothing to repair the damage done to the US food supply by the industrialization and centralization of food production and the continual contamination brought into the country hidden in uninspected imports.
For some reason, the Senator believes that harassing family and independent producers by making it impossible for them to remain in business due to mountainous paperwork, redundant and unnecessary regulations, rules and faked “science” while under threats of imprisonment, warrantless search and seizure, a prohibition on judicial review, a complete abrogation of rights, will fix the food system. He also very carefully avoided any mention of Codex Alimentarius written into the bill, or that little note at the very end saying that the bill could not obstruct any government agreement like CAFTA, NAFTA, GATT and most especially not the WTO.
Add into this his belief that the converting of FDA and USDA into the national food police who don’t even have to have any evidence of wrong doing or of food contamination issues and who would not be bound by any provision of the Constitution or the rights of the people will somehow magically cure the problem of industrialized corporate farming and ranching that is causing illness, disease and massive health problems across the country. More
The following is a response to my concerns regarding S510 and the enforcement provisions in the regard to the violations of due process and failure to provide just compensation for the proposed takings. Having watched C-Span testimony on this bill leads me to believe that none of the senators truly understand the impact of the implementation of these bills. Senator Feingold is an attorney and sits on the house judiciary committee and yet failed to respond to these legal concerns. Claims of broad based support for these food safety bills is only an indication that there is no cure for stupid.________
Honorable Senators;
The proposed bill S 510 leaves much to be desired in its application from a judicial aspect. It voids due process of law and equal protection under the law by allowing the administrator only reason to believe to initiate a takings against a food producer in the form of a recall. It effectively converts the right to produce and share food that has been enjoyed since agrarian societies emerged, into a crime.
Despite claims of food safety it effectuates a furtherance of consolidation of production, to the mega corporations’ advantage by eliminating small producers, raising the potential of tortuous claim for economic advantage.
A formal rebuttal was filed regarding FDA’s claim of interstate authority applying to local production, on the Federal Register, wherein the FDA sought to gain authority for rulemaking and thereby having commenced an action. Having failed to respond the FDA is therefore in default and has acquiesced by silence to the fact that it has no authority over interstate trade.
Response from Senator Feingold:
Dear Mr. Griepentrog,
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act and your concerns about the inspection and safety of imported food and food products.
As you know, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Food Safety Modernization Act on March 3, 2009. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions passed S. 510 on November 18, 2009. You can find information about this legislation at http://help.senate.gov/, including efforts of Senator Durbin and others to address concerns about the legislation.
On September 24, 2008, I sent a letter to then-FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach expressing my concerns about melamine contamination in Chinese dairy products. This recent series of contaminations killed several children in China, and sickened thousands more.
I have heard from several Wisconsinites who are concerned about the impact food safety legislation may have on small producers and processors. As the main proponent of a provision included in last year’s farm bill to expand and improve USDA’s office responsible for small farms and ranches, I am particularly mindful of concerns that any of these regulations could unduly burden small farms or interfere with local food systems. That is why I am a cosponsor of S. 2758, the Growing Safe Food Act. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced this legislation, which would establish a national food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical assistance program for agricultural producers. This bill would profit NGOs and governmental agencies in the attempt to educate producer about processes we have practiced for decades and is effectively a welfare check for governmental agencies and NGO’s.
I have consistently supported programs like the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) and the Value-Added Producer Grant program that provide assistance to locally focused and operated enterprises. I have also heard concerns from some Wisconsinites that food safety legislation would eliminate organic food and regulate personal gardens. I will keep these concerns in mind should such legislation come before the full Senate. More welfare programs and a very defined failure to commit on the issue in an election year.
I will continue to support efforts to protect American consumers from unsafe food and products. Thanks again for contacting me. I look forward to hearing from you in the future about this or any other matter of concern to you.
Why is there so much denial by consumer advocate groups such as the National Health Federation(1) (NHF) about Barry Soetoro implementing the U.S. Codex council via Executive Order(2)? What is it that they don’t want you to see? Just do the research, and you will discover that we have been up to our eyeballs in Codex since 1962 and don’t even know it.
Codex is a subsidiary body of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex develops international food safety and quality standards, such as standards concerning the safety of food additives. Standards set by Codex traditionally served as a minimum floor for less developed countries. The U.S. has participated in Codex since its formation in 1962 and has shared its technical expertise in efforts to aid less developed countries.
We are being lulled into complacency with declarations that Codex isn’t here yet, not to worry, while the elephant in the room is getting bigger all the time. Here is a quote from an article posted on the NHF site:
While the Executive Order is real, it is not imposing Codex rules on the United States. As NHF lobbyist Lee Bechtel correctly points out, “There is no direct policy link between this Council and Codex, or with the way in which the FDA regulates food and food supplements More
Growing an Already Disjointed and Duplicative Federal Government
In 2008, GAO testified before a House subcommittee that “FDA is one of 15 agencies that collectively administer at least 30 laws related to food safety. This fragmentation is the key reason GAO added the federal oversight of food safety to its High-Risk Series in January 2007 and called for a government wide reexamination of the food safety system. We have reported on problems with this system—including inconsistent oversight, ineffective coordination, and inefficient use of resources.”
Specifically, GAO found that in 2003, FDA and USDA activities included overlapping and duplicative inspections of 1,451 domestic food-processing facilities that produce foods regulated by both agencies. This GAO testimony came on the heels of a 2005 GAO report that identified significant overlap in food safety activities conducted by USDA and the FDA, and to some extent the EPA and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), including “71 interagency agreements [to coordinate overlapping activities] that the agencies entered into… However, the agencies have weak mechanisms for tracking these agreements that…lead to ineffective implementation.”
This overlap was evident in the egg salmonella scare. The Wall Street Journal reported (USDA Graders Saw Bugs and Trash at Egg Producer; Didn’t Tell FDA) that U.S. Department of Agriculture experts knew about sanitary problems at one of the two Iowa farms at the center of a massive nationwide egg recall, but did not notify health authorities.) USDA inspects farms and gives eggs their “Grade A” label, while the FDA technically is tasked with the safety of the final egg product.
This discrepancy was the impetus behind an egg safety rule originally promulgated 10 years ago by the FDA. Unfortunately, three administrations sat on the proposed rule without finalizing and implementing it. FDA Commissioner Dr. Hamburg stated, “We believe that had these rules been in place at an earlier time, it would have very likely enabled us to identify the problems on this farm before this kind of outbreak occurred.” A lack of regulatory bill isn’t the problem.
Charging the Bill to our Children and GrandchildrenMore
It has come to our attention that REID has decided not to shelve S.510, and instead will attempt to invoke cloture to ram the bill through. Reid, on the hook to many corporate food producers who have helped finance him, owes a lot of people……and none of them are you!
If this bill gets shoved through, Nevada needs to take immediate action to remove this man from office; don’t wait for the election. Marti
The momentum has stalled in the U.S. Senate behind a food safety bill that was fueled by the recall of more than half a million tainted eggs over the summer.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this morning he is shelving the legislation at least temporarily, and blamed Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., for the impasse.
Coburn had served notice he would block the bill on the grounds it is not offset by cuts elsewhere, and so would increase the federal budget deficit.
“If this was a priority for the majority, they would have already paid for it,” Coburn’s spokesman John Hart told Politico. Coburn says the legislation will cost more than $1.6 billion over five years.
The Oklahoma Republican on his website detailed other problems he sees with the legislation.
Reid, the Senate majority leader, said earlier this week he thought the bill was close to being ready and could pass quickly. He backtracked this morning.
“We thought we finally had it worked out, we could come and take care of this,” Reid said in a Senate speech. “But Senator Coburn has said no. We’ve spent a whole Congress on this and of course at the last minute he comes in and likely we will not be able to get this done before we go home for the elections.
“What a sad thing for our country. People are dying as a result of these problems with food. It is just a shame we can’t get this done.”
Food safety advocates have lobbied Congress actively through the year, flying in victims of severe food poisoning, and the family members of those who died from eating tainted food.
Reid said he met with a dozen Nevadans who have eaten foods that made them sick. One of them was Rylee Gustafson of Henderson, who was hospitalized as a 9-year-old in 2006 after eating contaminated spinach.
Pressure for reform mounted over the summer after more than 550 million eggs were recalled following a salmonella outbreak.
The pending bill would strengthen the police powers of the Food and Drug Administration to mandate recalls, enables it to hire more inspectors and requires more frequent inspections of food plants. It also requires food makers and processors to have control plans in place that address known problems.
Marti Oakley w/ Paul Griepentrog (c)copyright 2010
______________________________________________
“A formal rebuttal was filed regarding FDA’s claim of intrastate authority on the Federal Register, wherein the FDA sought to gain authority for rulemaking and thereby having commenced an action. Having failed to respond, the FDA is therefore in default pursuant to Federal Rule 36 and has acquiesced by silence to the fact that it has no authority over intrastate trade.”
___________________________________________
Honorable Senators;?
The proposed bill S 510 leaves much to be desired in its application from a judicial aspect. It voids due process of law and equal protection under the law by allowing the administrator to have only a “reason to believe” to initiate a takings against a food producer in the form of a recall. These same applications conspicuously do not apply to corporate producers. In the case of the individual, it is a clear abrogation of rights perpetrated by a political body which seems intent on depriving the people of their rights.
We find it difficult to believe that you, as Senators, would not be aware of the fact that you are intentionally abrogating the rights of individuals and are actively promoting the idea that prohibiting access to the courts and subjecting individuals to police state provisions, intended only to make it impossible for family and independent producers to remain in agriculture, would somehow be lawful. We find it disgusting that you would, using the jingosims of “food safety and food security”, hand the control of food production and supply over to corporations and international interests who are interested only in profits and how to control profits even if it destroys clean, safe food.
These bills effectively convert the right to produce and share food that has been enjoyed since agrarian societies emerged, into a criminal activity. If what you are contemplating can only be accomplished by violating the rights of the people….whose interests are you really serving? More
Lynn Swearingen (c) copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Testor Amendment. – It’ll free my direct sales to consumers. Or so the “opposition” to S. 510 seems to be saying now.
Once I started reading this, “shock kept me up all night” would be an understatement.
Attempting to understand the logic behind the argument that somehow Legislators and AgriBusiness lobbyists are now “backing down” from the onerous control methods that have been written, fought for, and negotiated since the introduction of S. 510 in March of 2009 – I became even more confused.
Why suddenly would Sally Sunshine be allowed to sell her Strawberries to Safeway with no “involvement” under S 510?
The answer in short is she won’t. The “Grocery Store” will be required to keep records of Sally Sunshine. And in the event of “reasonable belief” or “reasonable possibility” – Sally Sunshine is going down first.
The language is included here below (partial pages 122 and 123):
(G) GROCERY STORES.—With respect to a
17 sale of a food described in subparagraph (H) to
18 a grocery store, the Secretary shall not require
19 such grocery store to maintain records under
20 this subsection other than records documenting
21 the farm that was the source of such food. The
22 Secretary shall not require that such records be
23 kept for more than 180 days.
24 (H) FARM SALES TO CONSUMERS.—The
25 Secretary shall not require a farm to maintain
1 any distribution records under this subsection
2 with respect to a sale of a food described in
3 subparagraph (I) (including a sale of a food
4 that is produced and packaged on such farm),
5 if such sale is made by the farm directly to a
6 consumer. More
Go here to find out how much each of our elected officials has been collecting from the lists of supporters of this bill. Then read the lists of supporters: it’s a who’s who of biotech, and big AG. If you can read these lists and still come away thinking this bill is about food safety, stop reading here; we can’t do anything else for you.
______________________________________________
If ever there was a reason to vote the bums and the bumettes out, surely the coming vote on S.510, The Assault on Domestic Agriculture euphemistically called a “Food Modernization Act”, would be that reason. A “yes” vote on this bill is a vote against the sovereignty of the United States and wholesale capitulation to unlawful trade and harmonization agreements including Codex Alimentarius. Nothing in this Act is intended to, or will, secure the food supply and make it safe. The safety of food will only be accomplished by keeping corporate federal agencies out of your state!
The Federal government is once again, knowingly entering into a area where they have no valid constitutional authority and can claim no enabling act or constitutional clause, as a source from which they could derive authority over agriculture. The misinterpretation of the commerce clause, knowingly misrepresented, cannot facilitate the enactment of this Act into positive, enforceable, law.
Congress, lacking any constitutional authority, is fully aware they can confer no mandate onto the states causing them to comply with any portion of this Act, has inserted provisions into the Act ordering private corporate contracting to take place between the federal corporations known as the USDA and FDA and other federal corporations, and the state corporations designated by each governor to act as agents on behalf of the state. This is the only way any of these agencies can gain access to the states; your governor will open the door! More
This Modernization Will NOT Provide REAL Food Safety!!!!Senate Bill S510, the dangerous and misleading Food Safety Modernization Act, is getting close to a vote on the heels of the half-million egg recall from the industrial food supply chain. Act NOW!!!
►It is a dangerously broad regulatory bill giving extensive discretionary power to the FDA over the entire food supply chain without proper checks and balances to avoid abuse of power;
►It would impose one-size-fits-all-regulations on thousands of small and mid-sized farmers, small-scale local farms and food producers, and would drastically burden, to extinction, basic natural and organic food suppliers, thus endangering the lives of Americans who depend on local wholesome foods;
►It does not reflect a well-thought-out solution, or address the real causes of food safety issues stemming from the industrialized food supply chain; andMore
08-26-2010 7:11 pm – John Wallace Liberty News: It happened just in time, the salmonella egg outbreak and recall, that is. Remarkably so, in fact, to help boost the chances of Senate Bill 510’s passing. The Food Safety Modernization Act, whose companion bill H.R. 2749 already passed in the House, was facing quite the uphill battle. But not any more; a vote is now highly likely with approval possible if not probable.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said there could be as many as 1,300 salmonella related illnesses linked to the eggs. And that there could be 30 or more unreported cases for every reported case. So far there have actually been 1,953 illnesses reported from May 1 to July 31 of this year with the CDC admitting “some of these cases may not be related to this outbreak.” CNN has an interesting state-by-state listing of reported, suspected, and confirmed cases. It seems then, that labeling 1,953 food-borne illnesses in a three month period in a nation of over 300 million an “outbreak” is a bit of an over-reaction
Nonetheless, the hue and cry from the food agency regulators of the Obama Administration is deafening. Most call for an expansion of federal authority in order to prevent any more food-related illnesses, something that is quite impossible, given our imperfect planetary conditions. More
Marti Oakley (c) copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
“As it turns out, it isn’t God who is keeping a list of our sins: It’s a Homeland Security satellite logging any and all information it can find and transmitting it to HSD, NSA, FBI, CIA, and your local fusion center along with twenty other spy agencies all of whom stalk the net in order to find out who is naughty and who is nice.” ____________________
I hear it every day from nearly everyone I speak to or correspond with; the overwhelming sense that we, as a nation, are under attack. The attack is not coming from unidentifiable enemies, nor is it coming from half crazed Mid-easterner’s who “hate us for our freedoms”. The attack is coming from our own government; it is our own government who hates us not only for our freedoms, but also for our refusal to go quietly into the intended one world government where we have neither rights, nor the right to continue to exist. More
Ohio’s Love Canal: Toxic Pollution Dumping on a Scale of BP-Gulf Spill
By David Michael
Human illnesses and animal deaths have occurred recently from neurotoxins secreted by a heavy slime of blue and green algae floating on Ohio’s largest lake—Grand Lake St. Mary’s (Grand Lake) in Auglaize County. This is a lake that has been deteriorating for decades, but especially so in the past 10 years as factory farms have sprung up all over the area, and more are being built.
A high concentration of factory farms and the application of composted manure from CAFO (confined animal feeding operations) manure and sewage treatment sludge (humanure, now called biosolids—a mixture of concentrated human excrement and industrial discharges) is spreading toxic and infectious substances on farmlands close by and in the watershed. CAFOs in the watershed area account for 3 million chickens; while sewage sludge spreading is permitted on 8800 Ohio farmlands—several close to the edge of Grand Lake. More
Lynn Swearingen (c) copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Stop the presses, hold the panic, and stop “Egg-agerating” Congress Critters. Before pushing the American People into panic mode and blindly rushing through yet another “Save the American Consumer From Themselves Bill”, it might behoove legislators to read the law currently in place that is specifically designed to stop the contamination, production, distribution and consumption of tainted eggs. True it took 6 years of kicking and screaming to bring the CFO’s to the table and not all have to comply until 2012, but why rewrite what has already been written?
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Final Rule on egg safety, Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage and Transportation (21 CFR Parts 16 and 118), requires shell egg producers to implement measures to prevent Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) from contaminating eggs on the farm and further growth during storage and transportation. U.S. egg farmers have and continue to participate in food safety programs like the SE Final Rule in order to protect against food borne illness and provide a safe, high quality product. The rule was first proposed on September 22, 2004 and after several comment periods, went into effect on September 8, 2009. The rule requires egg producers with 50,000 or more birds or persons who store and/or transport eggs to comply with all regulations by July 9, 2010. Egg producers with less than 50,000 birds but more than 3,000 must comply by July 9, 2012.
Just mulling about the concern of food safety, here is a thought for one to ponder. According to the Wright County Egg Recall press release posted on the FDA recall information page, the first Julian Date of eggs believed to be contaminated was 136 (May 16, 2010) and the last known 225 (August 13, 2010). So between three different production CFAO’s involved over an 89 day period potentially 5,617,977 contaminated eggs were produced per day.
So here is where the process becomes interesting. Where does the responsibility lie? The USDA is passing it off to the FDA who is passing it off to the USDA…..I think we see where this is going. If they only had “more cooperation among Agencies”….something like S 510. More
Paul Griepentrog (c)coyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
“He presented the various disease trace back situations that had occurred in WI in the past conveniently omitting the pseudo rabies outbreak that involved the Emanuel Miller case.”
The latest USDA dog and pony show for implementing NAIS.
On August 18th in Madison WI the USDA presented its latest attempt to herd the producer masses down the squeeze chute to submission. Although a show of hands revealed that less than 30% of attendees were in fact producers the audience other than USDA officials was rounded out by DATCP officials, tag company representatives, private vets, UW extension personnel, livestock market, and company reps.
State and Federal personnel gave their individual spiels, WI state veterinarian Dr. Ehlenfeldt spoke about how the testimony he had given to the state legislature regarding how Wisconsin was going to lead the train in the traceability program and now it appears there is no train. He presented the various disease trace back situations that had occurred in WI in the past conveniently omitting the pseudo rabies outbreak that involved the Emanuel Miller case. Not surprising from a man who testified under oath in a Marquette Co. court room that there was no such thing as stray voltage at the outset of his career; a clear case of selective memory that has endured for some time.
Gary Tauchen, a state legislator spoke regarding how the latest traceability was needed to allow Wisconsin international access; as a long term band leader for Farm Bureau policy it was no surprise to find him playing the Codex tune. More
For those who insist CODEX is a dead issue and is not going to be implemented here in the US….you might want to consider attending this meeting. It appears the USDA is not aware that CODEX is dead. Marti
=====================
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Office of Food Safety today announced a public meeting to provide information and receive comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 25th Session of the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (CCPFV), to be held in Denpasar, Indonesia, Oct. 25 – 29, 2010.
The public meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 30, 2010, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., in Room 2068, USDA, South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC. To participate through teleconference, dial (888) 996-4918, and enter the passcode 63757. A complete agenda and documents relating to the 25th Session of CCPFV will be available on the Codex Alimentarius Web site at www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.
The CCPFV is responsible for elaborating worldwide standards for all types of processed fruits and vegetables including dried products, canned dried peas and beans, jams and jellies, but not dried prunes, or fruit and vegetable juices. The Committee is hosted by the United States of America. Among the agenda items for the 25th session of CCPFV is the revision of standards for quick frozen fruits and vegetables.
Codex was created in 1963 by two United Nations organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Codex develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice in order to protect the health of consumers, ensure fair food trade practices and promote coordination of food standards undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.
For further information concerning the 25th Session of the CCPFV, contact Dorian LaFond by phone at (202) 690-4944 or by e-mail at Dorian.LaFond@ams.usda.gov. Individuals are invited to submit written comments electronically, with the notification they apply to the 25th Session of the CCPFV, to the following e-mail address: uscodex@fsis.usda.gov.
For further information about the public meeting, contact Doreen Chen-Moulec by phone at (202) 720-4063 or by e-mail at Doreen.Chen-Moulec@fsis.usda.gov.
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
___________________________________
“Instead, FDA, just as the USDA, is pulling out all the stops in its efforts to terrorize and harass domestic producers and suppliers, and to end anything but industrialized corporate agriculture. After all, these corporations keep the FDA and USDA awash in funds.”
If food safety were the real issue…we would close down the USDA and FDA corporations immediately. S.510 is not intended to, and will not do anything other than stifle economic growth, kill off the domestic agricultural sector and hand that sector over to corporate predators.
S.510, just as the CLEAR Act, Cap & Trade, and a host of other offensive pieces of legislation is nothing more than a system of fees, fines and royalties meant to generate revenue while at the same time forcing individuals to keep records intended to be used for no other purpose than compiling a criminal case against themselves. These records can be seized on the whim of the “secretary” who can at his/her leisure, decide that they “believe” you represent a risk: no evidence needed.
Just as the appointment of Michael Taylor, the Monsanto hired gun, to the post of “food czar” in the White House was no coincidence, neither is the pandering to Monsanto and other multi-national corporations intent upon owning and controlling food prodution and supply in the US in the text of S. 510.
Both the USDA and FDA were created using the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) of 1946. Even if this act were constitutional, the federal government is precluded from entering into agriculture as it is not in the enumerated powers of the federal government. Agriculture is non-positive Code & Tile (7) and cannot be codified into law as it is a right reserved to the states. Creating fictional public service agencies, which are in reality privately chartered corporations, held by the federal government to by-pass Constitutional restraints, on the federal government makes them no less unlawful.
Contrary to comments from various national organizations and groups, the last thing we need to see happen is the expansion of power and reach of either the USDA or, the FDA.
Both of these corporate federal agencies have a long history of harming the public while deferring to corporate contracted partners who make sure both agencies are profitable even if the public is harmed.
On the other hand, it is no surprise to see national food organizations of all kinds jumping on the bandwagon to support this coup, hoping, I guess, that if they throw the rest of us under the bus they might be able to secure special treatment for themselves. The organics producers did. More
A seven-year scheme, backed by the New Zealand government, and supported by industry, will invest around NZ $170m in training and research, helping to “drive change in the dairy industry”. More
“There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.” — Mark Twain
__________________________________________
If only Mark Twain were alive today, he would have a field day commenting on what the U.S. Department of Agriculture considers to be “scientific”.
Subsequent to the Jack In The Box E. coli outbreak in 1993, USDA desperately and hurriedly implemented the current Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) protocol of deregulated meat inspection. HACCP was originally invented by Pillsbury, focused on the production of consistently safe food for NASA and the Army. Pillsbury’s HACCP required “Kill Steps” during food production, meaning that the food had to be subjected to a kill step such as fully cooking or irradiation, effectively killing all pathogens. Pillsbury’s HACCP system was truly based in science, and creates safe food.
USDA intentionally changed the Pillsbury protocol, but of course, retained the right to classify its HACCP imposter as allegedly being “science-based”. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) demands that all federally inspected plants implement USDA-style HACCP. Thus, FSIS requires that HACCP be used for all raw meat and poultry, which by definition does not utilize kill steps, but still qualifies for USDA-style HACCP. More
Paul Griepentrog (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
With high temperatures and drought affecting Russia and Western Europe the Russian government has announced a halt to all wheat exports and has placed additional security at storage facilities. Russia, the third largest wheat exporter in the world has asked Belarus and Kazakhstanto halt exports as well to prevent price increases in domestic supplies.
No such luck here in the US as speculators are driving prices converting unstable US dollars into commodities. Wheat prices have risen $1.97 a bushel, or 42 percent, this month and are at their highest level since September 2008. It’s the biggest gain for wheat contracts according to records dating back to 1959 according to the Chicago Board of Trade. This is deemed even more unusual for prices to advance during harvest a time which is normally the low point in the yearly cycle.
Further problems exist as Western Canada was not able to plant 13 million acres due to wet weather. More
If the idea of DuPont and the USDA teaming up doesn’t send chills down your spine, I guess not much will. But here in a nutshell, the global threat to the food supply…..in other words….the industrialization of food production…..is somehow now at risk from new and resistent strains of e-Coli. Damn! wonder how that happened? This is where the groundwork for more invasive and pointless regulations will begin. First you create a crisis…..
DuPont and USDA team up to tackle emerging food safety threat
By Rory Harrington, 04-Aug-2010
A new joint project between DuPont Qualicon and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) aims to develop testing to detect hard-to-identify strains of E.coli that are not regulated and have been causing increasing instances of food contamination.
The US-based company said tests have already been developed for E. coli O157:H7, the type of shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) most frequently associated with global food contamination outbreaks. But the company will partner the USDA after identifying a gap that currently exists in assays to detect other strains. DuPont characterised the non-0157 types as an “emerging threat to the food supply”. More
H.R. 5577 Exempts the USDA Certified Organics Industry from the labeling requirement and testing even if producers use GMO processing ingredients.
H.R.5577 – The Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act was introduced by Dennis Kucinich on June 23, 2010. The bill’s intent is to require labeling of foods if they contain genetically engineered (GMO) ingredients, or are processed with genetically engineered materials.
This is a very good idea, and one that I support. However, does it go far enough? More
Imagine 80,000 laying hens in a single building, crowded in confinement conditions, on “farms” with hundreds of thousands or a million birds. Is that organic?
The organic community has an opportunity to reverse this scandal and support authentic organic agriculture. The USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will be debating the meaning of outdoor access and stocking densities for organic poultry and other livestock at the upcoming meeting in Madison, Wis., October 25-28. 
The PPJ Gazette 