Jackass Alert # 2: USDA welcomes Codex Committee

This is akin to one of those nightmares you think will never end. After the blatant propaganda statement regarding the non-existent “substantial support” for the National Animal Identification System and Premises ID, I would have thought at least one person in the PR offices of the USDA would have had sense enough to keep this little ditty out of the news announcements, especially when it is widely known that Codex is the engine behind these assaults on family and independent farms and ranches on behalf of corporate Ag, and the United Nations.

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The USDA has proudly announced its coming planned meetings, right here on U.S. sovereign soil, with The Codex Committee On Fresh Fruits And Vegetables.

 

WASHINGTON – Sept. 1, 2009 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), Fruit and Vegetable Programs, today announced a public meeting to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 15th Session of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Marti Oakley a guest on The Derry Brownfield Show

September 2, 2009  

The Derry Brownfield Show

Host: Derry Brownfield

http://www.gcnlive.com/programs/derryBrownfield/    

Monday-Friday 10:00am-11:00am Central Time
Call In Number: 1-800-973-3779

This will be an open conversation covering a number of topics related to farming and ranching. 

Jackass Alert! USDA: Oh no you didn’t!

PPJG original post.  Author: Marti Oakley © August 22, 2009 4:23 pm cst

This is such a crock even I can’t believe it.  This is the actual public statement by USDA claiming they heard substantial support for NAIS/Premises ID.  What were these people smoking? 

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“Officials with the Department of Agriculture said they heard

substantial support for animal disease traceability during a series of

public meetings but many animal owners indicated concerns. Cost,

privacy, bureaucracy, liability in the event of a disease outbreak,

and the religious implications of such animal identification are

behind ongoing opposition to the department’s National Animal

Identification System.”

Marti Oakley on: Lives in the Balance with Jason Littlejohn

http://www.theyarekillingus.com/

Lives in the Balance with Jason Littlejohn

Guest:  Marti Oakley on HR 2749, NAIS

 

 

 

This is an mp3 file.

https://download.yousendit.com/MnFqYURIT2JEbUx2Wmc9PQ

 

HR 2749 Authorizes International Take-Over of Domestic Food Production

Welcome to the Global Plantation
HR 2749 Authorizes International Take-Over of Domestic Food Production

© Doreen Hannes 2009

HR 2749 AUTHORIZES NAIS and OTHER INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS
Congressional staffers have been telling people that HR 2749, the Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, does not authorize the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Many organic groups have agreed with them. However, this is misleading. Though HR 2749 does not name “the” National Animal Identification System, it still authorizes the program. It also does not state that it legally authorizes Good Agricultural Practices, or GAP, partially comprising Codex guidelines on traceability and food safety, and the OIE’s Guide to Good Farming Practices including auditing, certification and inspections, disincentives for not participating in the form of fines, penalties, and loss of access to market, but it does. Is it possible that Congress was not aware of what it voted on?  The bill was changed three times in a 24-hour period before passing the House 283-142 on July 30, 2009.

Are these assertions about HR 2749 wild and unsubstantiated? Proving them is fairly easy—just understand “Good Agricultural Practices” (GAP), how the agencies of the World Trade Organization operate within member countries to achieve them and what comprises the actual jurisdiction of the FDA and USDA. A brief explanation follows, along with substantiating quotes from HR 2749.

 First we look to jurisdiction in HR2749….

“Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this Act shall be construed to alter the jurisdiction between the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, under applicable statutes and regulations…” (p.3&4)

Then, tossing our preconceived notions to the wind and looking to law instead, we find that congressional testimony of the FDA on establishing a single food safety agency and a myriad of other sources including the FAO (Food and Ag Organization of the UN), the FDA statements on the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, and many books on food law affirm that FDA has jurisdiction over live food animals:

“FDA is the Federal agency that regulates 80 percent of the nation’s food supply-everything we eat except for meat, poultry, and certain egg products, which are regulated by our partners at USDA. FDA’s responsibility extends to live food animals…”(Cfans Director, March 2004 Congressional hearing)

NAIS/Premises ID….FCLDF takes it to the courts

A decision by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, located in the Washington District of Criminals, throwing out a lawsuit brought by Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FCLDF) asking the court to halt the implementation of NAIS, was based on her assertion that there is no federal law and/or, no federal regulation ordering the implementation of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).  FCLDF brought the suit asking for temporary injunctive relief……a move that was good in its intentions but obviously filed too early.  As no law or regulation exists to authorize NAIS/Premises ID and the claims by USDA and Tom Vilsack go unsubstantiated despite repeated requests to produce the authority they claim, injunctive relief could not be granted as no law has been passed …yet,….although multiple legislative assaults are in the works. 

Food Safety Scam: The Letter of the Law Makes Criminals of Us All

By Barbara H. Peterson

There is a big difference between the spirit and the letter of the law. The key to analyzing the effects of any type of legislation that ultimately results in setting rules and regulations in motion through a set of laws is in understanding the difference between the spirit and letter of the law, and how this concept is applied towards enforcement of any particular law. READ MORE…

NAIS ~~~ to Own a Politician

From: Darol Dickinson
Barnesville, Ohio 43713
740 758 5050 5-28-09

by Darol Dickinson 7-1-09

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Let’s call him Mr. B. He was a very auspicious Texas businessman and Mr. B planned to stay that way. His success had come hard, taking the highest risks, and no half pint politician was going to pass some bleeding heart law to thwart his achievements. Mr. B volunteered to serve as Republican Fund Raising Chairman and consistently rolled in the donations. He was highly respected by Texas candidates because he sucked in the bucks. With no small shock to many, here he is on TV, at a Democratic rally, right next to the podium by the featured speaker. What is going on? To cover all bases, he was also the leading contributor to the Democratic party. Mr. B. said, “I must know for certain that when I need special things, no matter who wins, I can make one phone call and — I own them.”

USDA Poised to Approve Widespread, Risky Field Trial of GE Trees

http://truefoodnow.org/ On Wed, 7/1/09, Center for Food Safety office@centerforfoodsafety.org The biotechnology firm ArborGen has asked the USDA for permission to conduct 29 field trials of genetically engineered “cold tolerant” eucalyptus trees in the U.S. For the first time in history, this massive experiment, which is on the verge of being green-lighted, will literally be using nature as the laboratory to test more than 260,000 genetically engineered trees. Scientists across the U.S. are voicing concerns over this proposal. As it did with GE alfalfa, USDA failed to conduct and prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to comprehensively address all the relevant issues related to the proposed eucalyptus field trials. Scientists at Duke University in North Carolina have created pollen models that show tree pollen traveling from a forest in North Carolina for over 1,000 kilometers northward into eastern Canada. A study published in the New Physiologist found pine pollen 600 kilometers from the nearest pines. Scientists researching sterility in trees have admitted that 100 percent guaranteed sterility in GE trees is impossible. This evidence implies that if GE trees are released into the environment, widespread and irreversible contamination of native forests cannot be prevented. Contamination of natural trees by GE eucalyptus could pose a severe environmental threat. Eucalyptus grow well in warm climates, so engineering them to tolerate cold temperatures removes the only barrier to their unrestricted spread. In some places where eucalyptus have been introduced, they are well known for escaping and colonizing native ecosystems. For example, eucalyptus is listed as an invasive species and a costly plant pest in California. The spread of these plants into the wild through seeds and plant matter is highly likely, and the impacts on native ecosystems from this invader are largely unknown. Additionally, one of the experimental GE tree varieties is a known host for cryptococcus gatti, a fatal fungal pathogen whose spores cause meningitis in people and animals.

NAIS ~~~~ Death in the rural USA

www.naisSTINKS.com

by Darol Dickinson 6-29-09

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Over 1000 livestock producer’s businesses die each month in the USA. Many of these family farms and ranches have survived the great depression and weathered the droughts and blizzards. Today a different storm of a political nature is planning to deal the death blows.

HR 2749: Our food supply seized by the Merchants of greed

Excerpted from The Merchants of Greed.

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HR 2749, the “Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009” is the latest in a series of misguided “food safety” legislation that utilizes a failed “one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme”. The legislation is completely absent effective regulation for US food imports and corporate agribusiness behemoths such as Monsanto, ADM, Con Agra and Cargill (primary causes of food safety failures). HR 2749 clearly favors the increased greed of the corporate industrial food complex while shifting the cost to small, local farmers, local food producers. It must be stopped at once.

There’s more.

According to Farm to Consumer.org, a non-profit organization protecting the constitutional rights of small family farms and consumers, “this bill would be an “absolute disaster for small farms and artisan food production”.

Here is the skinny on the HR 2749:

 

HR 2749 gives FDA tremendous power while significantly diminishing existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. Power to Quarantine a Geographic Area; the FDA can also Halt All Movement of All Food in a geographic area.

• Random Warrantless Searches of Business Records
• Establishing a Tracing System for Food
• Severe Criminal and Civil Penalties.
• Annual Registration Fee of $500
• Regulation of How Crops Are Raised and Harvested

Another fake food safety bill…….HR 2749 The latest assault from the District of Criminals

At every turn, from every angle and at every opportunity our own government, the same people we voted into office to protect and defend us, to honor the Constitution, prove they are not only unworthy but also dead set against us.

 

The pressure in the District of Criminals must be great.  The deadline looms for compliance with Codex Alimentarius and the World Trade Organization’s demands.  No doubt “cooperative agreements” of all sizes and kinds from many different sources have been made with congressional members who obviously have assured the behind the scenes power brokers that they can in fact, deliver the US to international control and codify Codex into US Law.

Bribery: Co-operative Agreements funding

Whenever some unelected bureaucracy is attempting to circumvent state or federal constitutional protections and rights, it is always done using some form of [co-operative agreement].  What this amounts to is a bribe paid to state officials.  Usually these agencies, answerable to no one….(they all have rule-making (law-making) capabilities) are intending to pass laws which will violate civil liberties.  The money, usually in the millions, is used to coerce elected officials at the state level into passing what would otherwise be untenable. 

NAIS temporarily unfunded while USDA plans next assault

It almost sounds too good to be true, probably because it is just a temporary  stall out in the planned National Identification System (NAIS).  DeLauro of Connecticut who helped pen the infamous HR 875 Food Traceability Everywhere Act of 2009, has removed funding for NAIS sighting a failure on the part of USDA to sell the gestapo law to farmers and ranchers who it turns out, are not quite as stupid and gullible as many thought. 

Don’t get excited and think you’ve won the battle.  This is a temporary stumbling block on the road to codifying into US law the Codex Alimentarius.  USDA and congress has until December 31, 2009 to come into full compliance with CODEX and these laws which are constitutional violations on both the state and federal level are meant to make legal these assaults on freedom and soveriengty.

While DeLauro stalls for time, USDA continues to promote its talking points by saying that almost 1/3 of farms and ranches are already voluntarily signed up.  The truth is only about 8% are, and many of them were signed up unknowingly.  USDA also needs time to fall back and regroup and plan its next attempted coup on American agriculture. 

Here’s what I believe we are in for:

Sometime in the next few months I believe a planned attack on the US food supply will occur as a result of USDA actions.  In my opinion, I believe USDA will stage a contaminated food attack which will be used much as 9/11 was to frighten people into complying with forfeiting even more of their rights and which will be the catalyst for forcing us into NAIS.

I could be wrong……but I bet I’m not. 

Marti Oakley 

 

Why no NAIS listening session in Wisconsin?

 

I find it interesting that of all the places where these USDA listening sessions are being held, not one is scheduled in or around Wisconsin.  I find that strange because the USDA paid Wisconsin  35 million dollars under a “co-operative agreement”  (bribe) to foist NAIS and Premises ID on the unsuspecting farmers and ranchers in that state in violation not only of Wisconsin’s state constitution, but also in violation of the US constitution. 

 

Now you would think, what with Wisconsin officials accepting the cooperative agreement (bribe) funds, promoting the new test law as a “voluntary” system which was actually mandatory, and then Wisconsin Ag granting itself the authority to conduct warrantless searches and seizure, AND the accompanying provisions for fines, property seizure and even imprisonment as listed in Article 95 of the Wisconsin law, that USDA would be holding at least one session in that state. 

 

After all, wouldn’t they want the rest of the country to know what a resounding success NAIS/Premises ID was?  Wouldn’t they want to hear first hand how the farmers and ranchers there were responding to this invasion of private property?  This intent to render them criminals for failing to comply?  This intent to seize control of food production and supply and to run the family and independent producers out of business and off the land? 

 

Personally, if I had paid state officials 35 million to violate the rights of the people and to strip away their constitutional protections and rights…..I’d want the whole country to know what my money had purchased for me. 

 

But that’s just me!

(c) 2009 Marti Oakley

NAIS~~~ the Deterioration of Earned Respect

From: Darol Dickinson
Barnesville, Ohio 43713
740 758 5050 5-28-09

by Darol Dickinson

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The entry of the USDA Colorado listening session was jammed with sign covered livestock trailers. Members of the Colorado Independent Cattle Growers Assn. were pawing the dirt about the possible mandatory NAIS. Well over 90% of the speakers were opposed to the feared program. Many had driven a full day to be able to speak 3 serious minutes to USDA staff.

Nearly 5 years ago I attended my first county NAIS listening session. I heard a detailed presentation by a professionally trained USDA state director. About 40 people crowded into a small room in a government building during the dark of an early winter evening. I knew the state NAIS director and had been in an Ohio Cattlemen’s Assn. policy committee meeting with him. I had a high respect and appreciation for his fairness, knowledge and livestock experience.

The state Farm Bureau director was present and assured everyone NAIS was the right thing to do.

As the NAIS program was laboriously presented, the hair bristled on my neck like a Michael Vick dog challenged by a common alley cat. In respect for the presenter, I did not jump to my feet and scream fowl play. I listened until his whole load of hay was forked to the herd.

Over a dozen points were eloquently presented. You could hear a pin drop in a room full of hard working Ohio livestock people who weren’t easily snookered.

We were told, NAIS would not be a choice. It was going to happen. NAIS would create increased livestock profit for those who promptly enrolled. Those who did not enroll would suffer losses–not the fault of USDA. We were duly warned! Without NAIS the export markets would promptly dry up for US livestock producers. If anthrax disease was introduced to the US livestock industry by terrorist, it would destroy all US agriculture. If foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) was introduced by terrorist it would engulf whole states overnight and wipe out the livestock industry. Then he said the Mad Cow media event in Washington state was the explosive reason NAIS was created by USDA — to protect all concerned.

After the meeting the largest commercial cattle producer in the county signed up his premises. He had several ranches leased so he enrolled multiple premises. Another dozen people were quickly enrolled.

Most, either in western hats or bibbed overalls knew the successful USDA history. Attendees had the ultimate respect for USDA’s eradication of bangs disease, screw worms, and numerous other livestock pearls including scabies and FMD. No country had ever attacked and successfully cleaned up livestock diseases like the USA. This country has the most disease free livestock in the world. There was a great respect for USDA’s efforts and an earned position of world honor.

The following day I called the resident director at Texas A & M Research and Extension Center in Uvalde, Texas. (Many livestock diseases had hovered near the Mexican boarder.) I was told yes, that anthrax was a problem but for eighty cents per dose stock could be vaccinated and there would be no losses. It was done all the time in that area. I was also told that FMD was eliminated in 1929 and was not in the US or Mexico at this time. FMD would not kill normal healthy cattle and the meat was edible without harm to people. A vaccine is also available for FMD, if any people are concerned.

With some shocking research, the Mad Cow event was not the origin of NAIS. Meetings behind closed doors to plan NAIS had previously happened for over a dozen years. Unpublicized meetings prior to 1994 included Neil Hammerschmidt, now with APHIS, Ken Olson of American Farm Bureau, Beth Lautner with the National Pork Producers Council, John Weimers, with USDA, Chuck Sattler with the National Assn. of Animal Breeders, Glen Slack of the Livestock Conservation Institute, David Nolan of Cargill, and several tag companies were represented including Glenn Fisher of Allflex. Like hungry lions fighting over fresh kill, NAIS was carefully planned many years prior to the Mad Cow event and an equal number of years before the British FMD fiasco.

NAIS was planned without a valid cause, then, as disease was found; disease became the cause.

NAIS is a hard sell. Congress has approved nearly $150,000,000 to promote and enroll livestock breeders. Cooperative agreement grants have been given to state departments of agriculture, universities, tribes, livestock breed associations and a cast of thousands licensed or funded by USDA. Never in history has an unpopular government program been funded so strong with only minuscule acceptance. As of today less than 10% of all livestock producers have surrendered to NAIS premises enrollment.

One year ago, Mike Johanns gave up. After spending nearly 3 years promoting NAIS, the Bush Sec. of Agriculture wrote his boss a letter of resignation, and dropped it in the mail box on his way to the parking lot. No two week or one month courtesy notice was given. He evaporated out of Washington DC with the same dignity a common thug would offer the owner of a low stakes cock fight ring.

From USDA’s world respect in disease eradication, it is now totally changing to a sad ending of political bribery, distrust, and a cowering staff of “bought” white shirted degrees.

USDA planned to grasp every livestock producer by 2008. It started with listening sessions in every state. Now the big guns have rolled out meetings all over the nation. The rural peasants are allowed to assert their three minute views for refusing to enroll in NAIS. Regional town hall type meetings are staffed with seasoned “listeners” such as Hammerschmidt, Dicks, and Weimers. A “low-tech” video of Sec of Agruculture Tom Vilsack is used to warm up a hardened crowd.

As USDA’s respect dwindles, cowboys, consumers, and all types of food producers are participating in the national “mud-throwing” sessions. The recent Colorado session gave USDA “listeners” an atmosphere less friendly than a Birney Madoff investor’s meeting.

As USDA team members and security guards entered the Colorado meeting hall cattle trailers, angry ranchers and signs of protest decorated the area. Quite conspicuous were the hangman’s nooses with signs–“FREE ROPES FOR USDA NAIS OFFICIALS! NO NAIS! HEY USDA–“DON’T TREAD ON ME!

Police, ordered by USDA, demanded all hangman’s nooses be removed from the property –“it was threatening violence.” One law enforcer said he thought the nooses were rather humorous, considering the cause.

As federales and farmers mumbled into the trouncing room, each person was given a real set of amputated rattlers from a Colorado rattle snake. People of the land were as serious as a snake bite about ending all plans of mandatory NAIS. As occasional rattling sounds were numerous, it made an eerie sound like no other listening session in history. The nooses were serious, as were the venomous steel eyed ranchers defending their livelihoods.

The Colorado spirit became more hostile. Over 90% spoke against NAIS, the same as previous sessions. Those speaking for NAIS were connected in every case by generous grants from USDA for the sole purpose of coercing enrollments.

USDA official listeners were greeted by numerous livestock trailers covered by home made signs clearly displaying opposition to NAIS. Hangman’s nooses made the basic statement from cattle owners to the feds. “FREE ROPES FOR USDA NAIS OFFICIALS.” USDA security guards were required to strip the nooses off as it was thought they indicated “VIOLENCE AND CROWD DISORDER.” It was too late. The true dead serious message was already expressed.

Chuck Sylvester, past CEO of the huge National Western Stock Show, was inflamed because Colorado State University, and the Colorado Department of Agriculture (recipients of $4,746,993 of NAIS grant money) had forced youth exhibitors at the Colorado State Fair to enroll their parent’s ranches in NAIS. He compared USDA to child molesters and pedophiles. He closed with a stern, “MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR SOULS!”

With dozens of red faced presenters the tone changed from the problem of NAIS to the cause of NAIS–USDA itself. Kansas rancher Mike Callicrate said, “I think we need to have a cleansing at USDA and it has to go deep, and the disease we need cleansing from USDA is corporate control–people who have gotten into USDA. We need to assess whether USDA has done their job? If USDA was to protect the food system –you are FIRED! If USDA is supposed to make sure family farmers have access to local markets, and the people who they know–you are also FIRED!”

The sessions originally designed to help USDA fine tune NAIS, completely backfired. The flaws are going beyond NAIS to the inner bowels of USDA. Quotes like, “We need to go to Washington with our pitch forks!” “If NAIS becomes mandatory there will be blood in the streets!”

And last, “We will fight NAIS to the death!”

Contacting a public official? That could be deemed harrassment or threatening!

Glenda O. just wrote an interesting article on the arrogance of Congress.  Glenda should have gone one step further and examined the arrogance and imperialistic attitude of some of the “unelected” bureaucrats that populate the District of Criminals. 

 

One of these is a gentleman named Chandler Goule.  Mr. Goule is currently the paid “mouth” for the office of Rep. Collin Peterson (D) MN, and works to advance the agenda of the most special and invisible, Mr. Peterson.  Goule is the “House Agriculture Subcommittee Staff Director” and works directly for Peterson assembling teams going out to advance the National Identification System and Premises ID, among other things.  Goule is paid by Peterson to “talk up” these anti-American, anti-family farm and ranch, pro-corporate laws that will destroy the most productive and safe agricultural system in the world and convert it to industrialized corporate farming, rending our food supply unfit to eat at any cost.

 

Recently, several individuals, unable to gain Peterson’s direct attention (Peterson is renowned for refusing to acknowledge receipt of any information that does not correspond to his plans) began emailing Mr. Goule with their concerns about NAIS and Premises ID.  Mr. Goule, obviously shocked that any peon out here in real world would actually question his assertions, or who would attempt to supply him with actual facts and data not molested by USDA number spinners apparently became frightened and paranoid and, at the end of one very ill constructed email attested to the fact that he did not like to be “threatened.”  

 

Now, try as we might we have been unable to find any instance where Mr. Goule was being threatened.  Apparently, having to actually be faced with the truth about the agricultural and consumer community’s response to these destructive and ill advised programs was more than Mr. Goule could bear and having worked so closely with his mentor and bill payer, Collin Peterson, has adopted  Peterson’s penchant for becoming indignant when questioned or queried directly. 

 

(If you have never attended a public meeting where Collin Peterson is present, you are in for a real show!  Peterson, who likes to plant shills in the audience with pre-planned questions so that he can give his pre-planned answer and control the dialogue by only selecting his shills for questions,  becomes visibly agitated, red-faced and bug eyed if someone slips through and asks him a real question or presents him with actual information that refutes what he claims he knows.  Many of those who watched the March 11, 2009 Ag hearings couldn’t help but note Peterson looking as if his head was going to explode and fly off across the room when Dr. Thornsberry delivered his fact filled critique of NAIS.)

 

We did do some preliminary searching on Goule’s assertions that poultry, pork and dairy are fully on board with these programs, but unless he believes that these groups are comprised solely of corporate operations, his assertions are not true.  These groups are NOT totally or even marginally on board unless they have a corporate origin and will benefit directly from the reduction of competition and the favoritism written into these new Nazi style laws for them.

 

We also fail to understand why Mr. Gould would consider documented and resourced information contrary to his promotional propaganda to be “harassment” as he claimed.  Or was it simply the idea that anyone would dare to bother him with their opinions or contradictions of his “talking points” was something he should not have to endure, what with being so special and all.

 

Mr. Goule appears to suffer from the same sense of arrogance that our elected officials do.  For some reason, the position they have attained somehow relieves them from any sense of obligation to the public at large. Now, cloistered in their privileged political positions none seem to be aware of or have any memory of the people they swore to serve.  In Mr. Goule’s case, being unelected seems to heighten his sense of privileged disassociation.

 

Sue Deiderich from Illinois recently wrote a lengthy but pointed letter  to Mr. Goule in which she pointed out that although he is hired by a Congressman, he is by extension supposed to be working for the people of the United States and is a public officer.  As such, I cannot conceive how he or any of the other and various public officials can conclude that they either will not listen to the public, or for some reason are not obligated to.

 

© 2009 Marti Oakley

Chandler Goule……Collin Peterson’s right hand man on NAIS

This is a response from Sue Diederich to Chandler Goule’s demand to be removed from receiving any further information which does not support the intent to force NAIS/Premises ID on family farmers and ranchers by Rep. Collin Peterson (D) MN, head of the House Agricultural Committe.  Chandler Goule is Peterson’s head of staff and handles the propaganda promotion of these programs. 

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From: Sue Diederich [mailto:suediederich@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 5:57 AM
To: Goule, Chandler
Subject: Re: Please Take Me Off

           Sue Diederich  –  IICFA  –  Northern IL http://www.iicfa.org/iicfa.htm       (847) 873 – 0251   or   suediederich@comcast.net   Wheel of Life Movie:  Health, Environment, & 6 other aspects of living http://www.wheeloflife.tv/cart.php?af=901957 Learn the truth about food, nutrition and what the government doesn’t tell you        Sir, I cannot believe you actually mean to tell any member of the American public that you no longer wish to be bothered with their concerns – especially with you being member of Congress (or staff of a member of Congress – works both ways!). I am sure you would rather we contact you directly than through the newspapers, radio and television…   I guess they might have to (don’t believe so, though) stop, but I really hope they don’t. Your email address is public information. Your position is federal public servant. Sorry, but that makes you fair game for these communications. Just chalk it up to job descriptions. You need to know – we are going to tell you – and keep telling you until we get honest and intelligent action. There are several tens of thousands if not millions of us who all see problems with NAIS and the travesty of the so-called “food safety” bills, and there are only 540 of you. A lot of you will be hearing a lot from us!   We look to our elected officials to be statesmen, complete with honor and interest in the welfare and well-being of American people. Are you a statesman, or are you only another politician? It only takes one… Just one.   We contact legislators with the assumption that they are in their positions to govern our country justly and feel compelled to help us out. I guess Congress-people have a different agenda from the one they constantly tell their voters about?   Will YOU be that one? Don’t just say it – mean it!   I do have to give you credit for answering yourself… Rather than through a form letter replying to something you’ve never even seen. You get points for that. Yet, I feel that we should all be flyng our flags upside down in the universal signal of distress… Is that what it will take to get legislators to listen and DO something? Does every American need to raise a distress flag to get your attention? I would be willing to start that campaign about now – after more than three years of attempts to get ANY member of Congress to listen and take any intelligent action whatsoever on just this single program!   There are FAR TOO MANY ISSUES with the NAIS program and the so-called “food safety” bills that need to be answered to ave any American’s communications about it brushed off with no good reason. You got your job because you promised to serve the public interest. This issue is all about the public interest in every way one could imagine.   Will you be the one to get the public those answers? Definitive answers? Honest answers? TRUE answers?   I am one of the people in this country that believe NAIS is extremely detrimental not only to consumers (that would be 100% of the US population, remember, including you, sir!), but also to the 80% of livestock owners in this nation that do not cause disease problems, contamination problems or any other problems – except to provide competition to the multi-national conglomerates. As punishment for this crime against humanity the USDA issues rules such as the one that states: a goat (which averages 3 – 4 feet long by a foot or more wide by 3 – 4 feet tall) should do just fine in 10 square feet of space throughout its life, and can still be called “pasture raised” because it is allowed to see the light of day. (No wonder the animal welfare and animal rights people give you guys such a hard time!!)   That works for those that see no problem keeping more than 1000 goats on roughly 5 acres of land and have the money to truck in all their feed – and – can still sleep at night selling them off to largely unsuspecting consumers as meat that was “pasture raised,” “grass fed,” “naturally raised,” or worse yet “organic.” It is also exceptionally beneficial to industrial agricultural concerns, mainly because that is status quo for them. Yet, the USDA allows for all of these FALSE AND MISLEADING terms to be used in marketing meat coming from just such situations – and the FDA has had no issue either.   I own no livestock. I would love to. NAIS will prevent that – permanently. It will also create an astronomical “barrier to entry” for many others. Another boon for Big Ag!! YIPPEE.    NAIS will also have an incredibly adverse affect on state budgets – already strapped by the rape perpetrated by the banks and their bail-out enthusiasts. Creating monopolies is something I thought was illegal, but Congress seems hell-bent to allow the USDA, UN and WTO to do just that with American farming. Monopolies mean exponential increases in consumer prices. With more than 1500 commercial uses for only the casein in cow’s milk – not to mention porcine blood extracts in brake fluid for vehicles, as well as beef blood and albumen and/or chicken egg albumin used in every vaccine from measles to Avian flu – the REAL costs are astronomical. Even the chip makers and industry insiders are against this program!!   NAIS is a problem. Actually, NAIS is an American disaster. Why is it that Congress talks to those profiting from NLIS in Australia, and the Canadian profiteers, but not to the small farmers in those countries – and that when all of our politicians keep saying small farmers are the backbone of our country – it is virtually a second National Anthem – the very ones which will be driven to extinction by NAIS? Yet, many in Congress support the “food safety” bills (yes – in quotes because that is NOT what these bills are about!) and the NAIS program itself.   For at least the past 20 years Congress has been little better than a multiple-mouthed spokesperson for irresponsible corporations and foreign authorities that put money before truth, safety, health and even reality. People in this country are a bit tired of the abuses in Washington DC, and we are going to let you all know about it. Email is easiest, but there are phones and the post office if need be. Sir, you should have gotten a “white paper” from NICFA back in March before the hearing on NAIS… If you did not, I will be more than happy to send it to you – I aided in the research for the consumer portion of it.   With all due respect, if you are a member of Congress, be thankful if these are the ONLY alerts and opinions you have gotten until now on NAIS… You will eventually be called upon to vote on the NAIS issue, as well as the travesty of the so-called “food safety” bills. Your job, sir, is to listen to Americans and do as you were hired to do. It is NOT to legislate our “best interests” according to anything other than our opinions. Nor is it to brush off the concerns of American citizens because they go against your personal beliefs or preferences.   It is my responsibility as both a consumer and as a concerned citizen to ensure that members of Congress – ALL members of Congress – are aware of the facts of the issues on which they legislate. I understand that legislators do not have the time nor the desire to educate themselves on the details of every issue they legislate on, nor to read the bills (or even to write the bills) that they vote on. Its my job to make sure you are as knowledgeable as possible – BEFORE you vote.   Your ONLY responsibility, Mr. Goule, is to do right by the people you serve – which as a federal legislator is ALL Americans – not merely the ones that lined your campaign war chest to get promises from you. Which oath will you honor?   One does not need to be a resident of your district in order to contact you on any federal issue. This despite the attempts of many of your fellow legislators to limit contact to only “constituents.” To be fair, it isn’t all that hard, though… One only has to go to the web page of the legislator in question and use their home office address to get a message through – perhaps it was thought that many would be too lazy or too stupid to do so… Being in federal office makes ALL Americans your constituents. You might represent the people of your home state, but you legislate for all of us. Far too many of you seem to have forgotten that fact. Far too many citizens have as well. I have not.   Each – and every last one – of the 6 so-called “food safety” bills introduced and one “discussion draft” is unconstitutional. Not one does anything to promote health or food safety. NAIS is unconstitutional. NAIS does nothing for human nor animal health. Harmonizing United States laws to WTO rules despite harm and hardship to Americans is also unconstitutional as well. In fact, they have a special word for those actions. Further, some are just plain wrong… Take HR 875 for instance… It states (among other things) that NAIS is existing law. Unfortunately for Ms. DeLauro, NAIS is NOT law, it is not even out of draft stage. If it were, it would be fully implemented, in all three of its abysmal stages, and across the board in all states. It is not. I do believe people in DC are counting on the people outside of DC not to recognize the fact that to make that bill law, Congress and the President will also make NAIS law, by default. We do. And – we will not stand for it.   People are also being counted on to not know the difference between being “stakeholders” (legal definition: uninterested third party holding property for its rightful owner) and “landowners” or “livestock owners” or even “farmers.” Or, a better one is “premise” (part of and a conveyance on a deed) and private “property.” When the USDA contract with the State of Illinois states that the Illinois Department of Agriculture is to convince “farmers to register their farms as premises” – people did indeed start getting a clue. Why make that particular distinction if the terms were interchangeable?? Why hasn’t Congress asked about this?? Why is this information not important to the public servants elected to federal office? Why have you not questioned these items? Why has NO ONE in Congress questioned ANY of these things?   If NAIS is voluntary, why is it that not a single member of Congress has taken interest in the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund’s lawsuit against the USDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture for making it mandatory through cooperative agreements and memoranda of understanding? Why no interest in the civil forfeiture lawsuits happening in Wisconsin? Why no question as to why Mary Zanoni’s FOIA lawsuit was dismissed only to find out that the FEDERAL NAIS database used by the State of Wisconsin was housed in Canada and therefore was not subject to United States laws? Why all of a sudden, after the dismissal of the suit, did Senator Fiengold send a note on his letterhead that the database was “being moved back to Madison?” These are all foreshadowings of what we can expect if Congress decides to mandate the NAIS program. Why was Max Thornsberry shut down by the very same representative that asked him for the data on daily importation of TB in Mexican cattle – even when Dr. Thornsberry had the documents containing the data he attempted to give at the March hearing of the subcommittee on livestock, poultry and dairy? Not only was that behavior rude, it was obvious.   I have to say – listening to the two Congressional hearings on NAIS that have been held thus far this year has been rather like watching episodes of the Twilight Zone on TV – until one realizes that these legislators are serious. Then it becomes more like watching Titanic.   Dr. Thornsberry and American livestock owners will go down with the ship, while the corporate bugaboos will get the lifeboats – and Congress gets to look like it was actually doing something. I guess they felt looking like it was better than actually having to do it. Not many listening to those two fiascos were fooled – its more like we were fueled.   NAIS does not prevent importation (legal or illegal) of any animal disease. NAIS does not protect the food supply in any way. Given recent USDA reports of soaring pork, poultry and beef exports, as well as new market openings, it will not even boost trade. (It hasn’t worked for the Aussies, either) NAIS stops at slaughter, so it cannot prevent human illness caused by contamination in meat or meat products. Further – I defy anyone on the planet, let alone on Capitol Hill to tell me just where more than 100 microchips will fit into a single pound of ground beef!! NAIS would not and could not prevent the Westland/Hallmark recall of more than 143 MILLION pounds of ground beef last year, nor the recent Idaho and Illinois recalls of more than 39,000 pounds each. Of course, being livestock based, it would do nothing to counter the problems that the FDA ADMITS IT ALLOWED to continue at the peanut and pistachio plants. (Neither will any of the “food safety” bills – and they wouldn’t have stopped the spinach, basil, or tomato salmonella problems, either.)   If NAIS is truly only for animal health reasons as the USDA has stated before, then why is it claimed to be used for marketing, for recovery of lost and stolen animals, etc. If it is for reasons of food safety then why does it stop at slaughter when the CDC and FDA admit more than 90% of food borne disease happens AFTER slaughter? If it is for the quick detection of disease, why has the USDA cut testing? If it is for the prevention of the spread of disease, why are diseases included that have no permanent affect on animals and pose no threat to human health? Just what IS the reason for NAIS?   What NAIS does is cost the smallest producers, many of whom never even sell into any market, the very most, while leaving the corporate and industrial farms virtually off the hook. Small producers must tag and track every animal. A CAFO would need one tracking number for an entire herd of animals. 80% of farms are considered “small farms” in this country – more than 80% of those will be run out of business. NAIS tracks disease AFTER it occurs, and provides for the wholesale slaughter of animals that could otherwise provide much needed food for humans. Many of the diseases reportable now, let alone under NAIS do not pose a human threat. FMD does not pose a human threat. Scrapie does not pose a human threat. Exotic Newcastles disease, and most forms of Avian flu might – if one is unhealthy to begin with – maybe cause pink eye. Maybe.   Further, there are no exemptions from NAIS. No religious exemptions, no size or scale exemptions, no organic exemptions – none whatsoever. There are not even any provisions for size or scale fairness! NAIS allows for on demand inspections as well as USDA entry onto what WAS private property without warrant. Both serious constitutional issues. What about privacy issues? What about private property issues? There is no consideration provided in the program documents for the clouding (or possible transfer) of title.    It allows for a 6-mile-radius KILL zone (oops… .depopulation zone) around every positive test – without further testing. So, if they decide to kill off all but one cow in a six-mile radius, and then that one cow tests positive, you get yet another 6 mile radius kill zone going on. And this will save billions due to disease losses????? There are no provisions for reimbursement for any animal – not even for those tested after death and found to have been healthy. NAIS removes the liability of the government for damages caused without reason (and with reason in the case of diseases like TB, pseudo-rabies, etc).   Removing the liability while increasing the authority of the same government agency just ain’t gonna fly in this country. There have been far too many abuses already – even apathetic consumers are not going to put up with that.   FMD is listed as one of the diseases that will set this kill zone into effect. I am sure you remember what happened with the idiots in the UK. Well, what you might not realize is that farmers in the UK do NOT want their version of NAIS and have parliamentary backing for that position, FMD usually does NOT permanently damage the animals – its only real detriment is somebody decided it was a dollar figure problem (trade), AND, FMD covers more than one species – so we could knock out potentially all individual animals of more than three species over dozens to hundreds of miles for something that is merely someone’s idea of a dollar-killer.   BSE is another disease that will set off kill zones. BSE is NOT transferable between animals other than cow to calf. It is not “catching” unless neural tissue is consumed. Therefore, unless the farm in question is in violation of existing FDA feed bans, thousands of animals will needlessly die. Further, it was our own USDA – developers of NAIS – that decided it was OK to continue importing beef cattle from Canada – even tough – 4 of our 5 ONLY cases of BSE arrived from there, and they continue to confirm more cases of BSE to this day.   Avian flu is another biggie. There are countries where no birds are EVER allowed to see the light of day throughout their entire lives. Most often, the poor, those raising their own food, and the small farms are the targets. CAFOs have nothing to worry about – that is standard operating procedure for them. So are health problems in their customers. NOTHING that lives is healthy without sunlight. Nothing. So what happens – antibiotics and birds stuffed into barns with little more than three square feet per bird. Do the math – then figure out the cost to human health of the ingestion of all the chemicals and synthetic vitamins required to keep the birds ALIVE let alone healthy.   A disease becomes a “‘pandemic” because people in more than one country get it and a few die from it. However, as will the flying pig flu (swine flu) – far less than .001 % of the world population died from it. For H5N1 Avian Flu, the ONLY human to human transmission was between mother and child (H5N3 as well as H5N1 – the very same strain in those Baxter vaccines… Hmmm…Convenient.). Several others in the same household never got so much as a runny nose. Yet, Avian Flu is one of the government’s biggest sellers in the fight for intrusive and abusive federal and state programs in the name of protecting the public. I would suggest that people (most especially those legislating these programs!) should read the research (doesn’t require a college degree, though most if not all in Congress have obtained one), and make more intelligent, reasonable, sound decisions. If there is no proof one way or the other, how do you tell if Baxter is right or if I am??   This is pure INSANITY, Mr. Goule – pure, unadulterated (and criminal) insanity.   One does not need to be a scientist to figure out that four separate and distinct strains of DNA do not occur in a single virus in nature. Especially when two of those strains are swine flu, one bird flu and one human strain – but not until three weeks after Mexico first reported human cases, was it EVER found in pigs, and then it was found in Canada – where it has stayed. Um?! No question there? No United States investigation into Baxter Labs’ release of live avian flu to 18 countries – it is a US corporation.. Again, hmmm… The FDA can threaten the makers of Cheerios over a health claim on the label (one they previously allowed!), but they can’t investigate a level 3 security lab loosing a deadly virus on 18 separate unsuspecting countries in a shipment of vaccines?!?!?! Pardon me for being just a little bit incredulous.   No connection made between the fact that all 18 countries have not yet been publicly divulged – but – Baxter not only provided the vaccines for the pigs at the Smithfield CAFO in LaGloria where the first human cases occurred (the first boy lived a mere 600 yards from the “farm” in question) but also was the company of choice to develop the vaccine against this same swine flu? The public is questioning, sir, why isn’t Congress? No investigation? Also no proof I am wrong.   Just where ARE our Congressmen and women? Are you all on vacation somewhere? How do we reach you if not by phone, email or letter? Some of us can visit, but what of the rest? There is something fundamentally wrong in Washington DC, Mr. Goule, and you can help us start to fix it if you choose.   Its time for Congress to stop pandering to “vertically integrated,” profit motivated corporations, the UN, WTO and the ridiculous “trade agreements”  – which were not handled through proper channels in the first place – and start doing your jobs. Just because Congress decided the public wouldn’t notice if they gave up on their responsibility to ensure the public safety and the sovereignty of this country by fast-tracking such crap through, does not mean that it was intelligent, legal or that it went unnoticed. It only proves that massive congressional recalls need to be implemented – and have been needed for a very long time.   Where are our statesmen??? All of you need to remember that “statesman” is a title that must be earned. It is not conveyed upon election. Politicians get elected. Statesmen have courage, integrity and a sincere desire to serve the public – and they exercise those qualities every day, convenient or not – apart from the lofty ideas delivered by hired speechwriters.   As a servant of the public, your job is to “do right by” American citizens, and to  “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic.” That means ALL enemies, Mr. Goule, in person and in policy. How can you do that if you refuse to learn the facts of those issues you must vote on? How can you do that if you cannot be bothered to read and understand the impact of the bills you support or oppose? How can you know if you do not ever check?   If only Congress would do its job as it was designed, nothing (in theory) should ever have to get to the Supreme Court…. Fortunately, our Founding Fathers knew better than to trust such power to one branch of government and created the court to do what Congress and the President would not. Unfortunately, they don’t seem much more interested than legislators or the President.   But that still does not excuse the fact that Congress hasn’t really done the job it was designed and contracted to do virtually since its inception. Then, since 1913 it has steadily lost interest in even trying, and since 1988 it has attempted to do anything but. All of you should simply just STOP cowering before central bankers, foreign organizations and major corporations, and start getting this country back to the way it should be.   I signed my oath as a public servant in the circuit court system. I had to request the paper, as the County official taking that oath told me I didn’t have to sign anything. Did you? Did ANY of you?   You need to know these things – like it or not. If it is documents you wish to see instead of opinions, please feel free to let me know. You can reply to this email, or my phone number is below. I have been collecting documents, as have several thousand others, for more than the last four years. We would be happy to send them along for you to educate yourself on the realities all of you seem so willing to dismiss.   There is an old saying about “50 million Chinamen can’t be wrong” – you have 97 to 98% of livestock owners in addition to untold numbers of consumers telling you there is a HUGE problem with this program and with those bills. When are legislators in Washington DC going to actually take an HONEST look?   We were once a great, powerful and wise country. We were respected everywhere on the planet. We had no need to go begging with our hand out to the likes of the WTO for permission to sell our goods. We had quality products made inexpensively right here at home. We had jobs. We EARNED our way. Now, we are a little better than a mere laughingstock. YOU – Mr. Goule – and men and women like you – can help return us to the glory this nation was founded to exemplify – but only when you act accordingly.   One final thought… The poor and the small farmers of the entire planet are looking to what happens here on this issue. Our country was built on the backs of the poor and the small farmers. We will not fail.   All it takes is one man of honor.   Let that man be you.   Sue Diederich Palatine, IL

Will we eat from our own backyards or beg food from big agribusiness?

By Mike Callicrate

Pulitzer Prize winning author Charles Simic once wrote, “Stupidity is the secret spice historians have difficulty identifying in this soup we keep slurping.”

As our precious few independent livestock producers and small processors continue their losing fight for survival, the USDA dreams up even more ways to make their lives more difficult. These are the people producing the safest, highest quality and most dependable food for our tables. As we sit here today at this listening session in Greeley, Colorado, considering the depressing possibility and cost of tracing back every healthy animal to its home of origin so Tyson, Cargill and JBS can export more, the farmer and rancher with the heaviest workload and the least income will pay – and down the road – consumers will also pay.

Today, USDA, in protecting the biggest and dirtiest meat plants, continues to block trace-back of pathogens to the source plant, a very easy and inexpensive measure that could improve food safety tomorrow – and you say instead you want to track healthy animals back to the farm! Where USDA’s farm-to-kill plant NAIS ends, contamination and food degradation begins. What do you call an agency that actively undermines a nation’s ability to feed itself? What term defines an agency that sells out its mission to serve and protect the people in favor of serving higher profits of multinational agribusiness corporations? Stupid would be a kind choice of words.

Thinking about NAIS and possible ways to improve food safety and disease traceability, we might reflect back to 2002 when we experienced one of the biggest meat recalls in our history. From here we can almost see the Greeley packing plant, from which the nearly 20 million pounds of E. coli tainted beef was shipped across the U.S. to unsuspecting eaters. Having experienced this and many other catastrophic failures in our nation’s food safety system, USDA actually continues to do even less to protect our food supply. USDA has done nothing to address the problems in the big packing plants where E. coli is systematically put into our meat daily while trusting these big profit-driven companies to self inspect under the HACCP hoax. You may ask why meat cooking companies like Advance Foods, a major supplier to the school lunch program, are doing so well and expanding their facilities? Might it be due to the growing supply of cheap E. coli tainted meat, marked “FOR COOKING ONLY”?

Thanks to USDA antitrust cops and inspectors sleeping on the job, Americans now eat meat from essentially four big meat packers, running faster chains with inexperienced workers suffering high injury rates, resulting in even more meat contamination. USDA has ignored the existing laws and rules designed to protect our markets and keep our food safe, in favor of rules and policies that make big packers and processors more money and more market advantage over smaller independent processors. Why does USDA want to track every healthy U.S. animal and ignore the current foreign animal disease threats? Why does USDA fail to properly implement our own county of origin labeling law while refusing to inspect or even care about the origin of imported cattle? Even with the specter of Mad Cow disease, USDA continues to block routine testing and allows processors to grind the brain and spinal tissue of domestic and imported animals into our sausage and ground beef patties. (AMR, or Advanced Meat Recovery, optimizes meat yield through a special process of pulverizing meat and bone scraps into a paste which is pelleted and added to many meat products.)

Why would USDA pursue this expensive and unnecessary ID system, under the pretense of improving food safety, when machine tenderizers and injectors (making tough meat from implanted and low quality cattle more tender) are punching pathogens that reside on the surface of primal cuts of meat (normally killed with minimal cooking) into the middle of our rare and medium rare steaks without so much as a “COOK TO WELL DONE” warning label?

Could USDA possibly have the dreaded and highly contagious disease known as covering-your-butt-with-heaps-of-paperwork? You want to spread this “I-covered-my-butt-so-it’s-not-my-fault” plague down the food chain from your comfortable perch in Washington D.C. to your inspectors, who shuffle paper all day, instead of inspecting cattle and meat, to those of us who are breaking our backs raising the livestock. We don’t have time for it. In many cases we are working two off-farm jobs while trying to keep our operations afloat. Non-factory, independent family farmers and ranchers produce safe and wholesome food. Why don’t you make sure it stays that way?

You say that NAIS will increase our ability to export. Why does our government continue its march of folly towards increased globalization, appeasing the WTO and their multinational corporations, while blocking U.S. farmers and ranchers fair access to better markets here at home? Past and present history, from Ireland to Canada, has recorded the dramatic social declines and economic failures of export oriented agriculture.

I suggest to you today that rather than facilitating the profit over people WTO mission of increasing the miles that food travels around the globe with NAIS, that we support a new policy that enables people everywhere, through local food production and processing infrastructures, to eat food from their own backyards, communities and regions. It is time to give up on the folly of corporate controlled, bigger-is-better factory agriculture. It is time to reverse the current pandemic of “free trade” that survives only due to government support and the anticompetitive, abusive rules and regulations like NAIS.

I suggest that people everywhere would not only be better off without NAIS, but also without the WTO and the global corporations it serves. I suggest that this administration honor its promise of CHANGE and begin by ordering USDA to support those who make and grow things here at home. We should support our main streets and rural communities where our nation’s wealth is created, instead of Wall Street where our nation’s wealth is stolen.  Instead of wasting precious resources and our time to identify and track every healthy animal in America, let’s protect against the real sources of disease and causes of economic and social decline.

Corporate power over policy and the so-called cheap factory foods are the real threat to our well-being, making people everywhere sicker, poorer and more dependent on low quality imported food? What do you call something that is so contrary to our self interest like NAIS?

Mike Callicrate is an independent cattle producer, business entrepreneur and political activist, particularly outspoken in addressing the rural and social impacts of current economic trends.

Mike Callicrate

Ranch Foods Direct

2901 N. El Paso

Colorado Springs, CO 80907

719-473-2306

www.ranchfoodsdirect.com

Nobull Blog

YouTube

The Future of Our Food with Marti Oakley

 

The Future of Our Food with Marti Oakley

Join Sean Croxton for an interview with activist Marti Oakley about NAIS, current “food safety’ legislation, and Premises ID. Just how far have the government and corporations gone to take over our food supply? Find out!

 

 

Click here:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/UndergroundWellness/2009/04/17/The-Future-of-Our-Food-with-Marti-Oakley

The Health Dangers of Genetically Modified Foods

Jeffry Smith on genetically modified foods, knowing which foods are modified and what these foods will do to the human body.

USDA employing Delphi Technique: Prepare to be Delphi’d!

 I have concluded the USDA and its henchmen really do believe we are all stupid.  I have come to this conclusion after months of reading the misinformation, the disinformation and the outright lies the USDA has put forward in an attempt to force the implementation of the National Animal Identification system and the companion land grabbing piece, Premises ID. 

Maybe Tom Vilsack and those conducting these bogus listening sessions believed no one would take the time to actually read, research or comprehend the intent of these bills.  Its possible Vilsack & Team USDA figured if congress didn’t read the bills, we probably wouldn’t either.  Wrong!

As every state in the Union mounts a campaign to halt the implementation of any of these international agreements and Codex Alimentarius mandates, rules and regulations, USDA was forced to conduct a “listening” tour.  Of course…..there was never any real intent to listen to anything.  These are staged meetings where control of the crowd, content of the dialogue, is all determined before hand.  At least that’s what USDA team leaders thought would happen.

 

I believe it must come something of a surprise to find out not only did we read the bills, we printed them off…went over them line by line and realized NAIS, Premises ID and the fake food safety bills were nothing less than a coup meant to destroy and overtake the agricultural system in the US, replacing it with corporate industrialized farming and concentrated animal operations.  We aren’t about to let that happen.

As with any unelected bureaucracy, USDA decided all on its own that NAIS, Premises ID was a done deal.  Oh! The arrogance of these little agency dictators in waiting

To make sure (they thought) they could limit the commenting, limit the statements and prevent most of the audience from participating at all the USDA employs the Delphi Technique.  This is the technique of dividing and conquering.  Simply put, every one who attended the Harrisburg meeting was handed a folder with a colored dot on it.  When the break-out sessions started……anyone attending was more than likely separated from those they came with and sent to a room with a corresponding color coding. 

The break-out sessions are nothing more than the Delphi Technique revisited and a means to divide the attendees and diffuse the conversation.  Who ever might be in opposition to the conclusions, policies, or programs the facilitator is advancing is quickly singled out and actively shunned. 

The biggest goal of the facilitator is for him/her to be perceived as part of the group.  Once this is done, the facilitator asks for ideas and opinions, leading the group carefully to the pre-determined conclusions and leaving them believing it was all their idea.  Only it didn’t work this time.  The farmers and ranchers, the cattlemen and horse people stood their ground.  The only people shunned and shut out of the meetings were the facilitators. 

It would seem we are not all quite as stupid as the USDA wants to believe we are.  We don’t need or want NAIS or Premises ID.  And we will not stop until this horrible program is done away with altogether.  Then on to the fake food safety bills!

Grab your butt Mr. Vilsack…its on!

© 2009 Marti Oakley

Never anticipating the monumental backlash, Rep. Collin Peterson (D) from Minnesota declared after the March 11, 2009 Agriculture hearing that he intended to see that NAIS was fully implemented by the end of the year.  As I am from Peterson’s district in Minnesota I would like to declare that I intend to see him fully recalled from office at the same time, if it is passed.

The Secret to Compliance the Regulators Don’t Want Us to Know About; Slumbering with Regulators

www.nonais.org

Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 12:51PM

The agriculture regulators who work so hard to prevent us from obtaining raw milk, or try insanely to register every chicken, goat, and horse in the country, like to think they hold the power to make us follow whatever crazy rules they come up with.

To a certain extent they can, but underneath their bravado, the regulators are well aware of an important truism: the public must be in general agreement for their regulations to work. Or, put another way, if those being regulated disapprove, they will find all kinds of ways around onerous regulations.

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is a case in point. The fact that the all-powerful U.S. Department of Agriculture, with the help of its lap dog state ag friends pushing as hard as they can, has been able to only gain one-third farmer compliance after five years of intensive effort on NAIS is testimony to the farm community’s resistance.

The reason USDA is suddenly pushing so hard on such things as “listening sessions” isn’t that the agency wants to gain feedback from farmers–it knows full well how much most hate NAIS–but rather the agency hopes to fool farmers into thinking they have a say. The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund reported in a press release that at the first such listening session in Harrisburg, PA, Friday, 27 of 36 individuals who testified spoke against NAIS. I’m not going out on much of a limb to predict this effort will fail as fully as previous such efforts.

The real message here is that USDA is very worried that NAIS could collapse of its own unnecessary weight, and the active refusal of farmers to participate.

Implicit in comments from Sylvia Gibson and Hugh Betcha on my previous post, individuals are increasingly looking for ways around, between, or outside the regulatory meddling. They want to establish their farms and raise their herds and quietly market their raw milk or cheese or grass-fed beef outside the view of nosy and interfering regulators.

Last week, Lykke wondered if “farmers starting-up a raw milk business have adequate information from the various sources (government, university extension, farm advisors, advocacy groups). I hunt around the web and find so little about the process, best approaches (including how to navigate through the regulations, private lab tests, government testing programs, etc.).”

The obvious answer is that the establishment organizations don’t want farmers to have such information, since raw dairy production may offer them a way to raise themselves by their bootstraps, and Big Ag wouldn’t want that. But even if the USDA and state ag agencies decided they really wanted to economically help their constituencies, I venture it would take a lot of outreach to convince farmers to participate. Given the current regulation-happy approach, farmers are doing everything they can to stay off the radar screen, for fear of being registered, or even noticed.

***

Speaking of regulators, thanks to Amanda Rose for her offer last week to host a book reading/slumber party at her place in California in early October in honor of my upcoming book about raw milk. And to Lykke and Concerned Person for offering support.

We should have some early copies of the book available. I’d like to second Amanda’s encouragement to the regulator types to partake. Despite all my tough talk, I don’t bite. And the book portrays some as real people with real concerns. Besides I can’t wait to see regulators in pajamas.

Thursday

14May

Why Farmers Aren’t Buying Into the “Sky Is Falling” Hype About NAIS, and Other “Traceability”– Initiatives

 www.nonais.org

Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 09:31PM

As long as we’re discussing our fear-based culture, I should mention the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

A dairy farmer wrote recently to gently remind me I hadn’t written much of late about NAIS, and to urge me to do so because it’s back in the news. I was so preoccupied over the last ten months or so with writing and researching my book about the politics of raw milk (due to be published next fall) that I have neglected to provide updates on NAIS. Over that time period, we’ve had an election and a new administration take office.

So when I went to update myself on what’s happening, I found that, despite all the political shuffling, the government and agriculture trade group rhetoric on NAIS hasn’t changed a bit. The most notable additional development may be a worldwide effort to broaden animal tracking to include “traceability” of all food ingredients back to their producers.

On the NAIS front, the latest wrinkle is a series of U.S. Department of Agriculture “listening sessions” around the country about NAIS. In announcing the sessions, the secretary of agriculture was quoted as suggesting NAIS is inevitable: “USDA needs to hear directly from our stakeholders as we work together to create an animal disease traceability program we can all support,” Tom Vilsack.

Ready to fan the fear flames are organizations like the American Veterinary Medical Association. One of its top officials told a Congressional committee, “The U.S. cannot afford to wait for a crisis to make a mandatory animal identification system a reality.”

Amidst all the rhetoric, the most revealing facts about NAIS may be that the USDA has been attempting to sign up farms and other production facilities for five years now, and over that time span, has succeeded only in attracting about one-third of all facilities. For all the chicken-little rhetoric, farmers seem to appreciate better than the general population that NAIS is just another outgrowth of our culture of fear.

Since the program has been billed as “voluntary,” the one thing that can doom the entire effort is lack of effective farm participation. (There are many opponents who argue that NAIS becomes less and less “voluntary” as times goes on, and states push ever harder to help USDA achieve its signup goals…which makes the relatively small percentage of registrations all the more remarkable.)

In addition,the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is fighting the USDA in federal court, but it will likely be many months, and possibly years, until its case is resolved.

It’s important to understand that NAIS and similar animal tracking programs in other countries aren’t isolated phenomena. They are part of a larger worldwide effort to trace ALL foods, including fruits and veggies, back to their producers. As part of that effort, technology companies with all kinds of new bar codes and other tracking devices are springing up, with backing from government agencies around the world.

It may be too late to keep all these new bureaucratic efforts from establishing deep roots. But defeating NAIS would send a strong message that small farms in particular don’t need more layers of bureaucracy to encourage them to produce safe foods.

FIRST NAIS LISTENING SESSION BY USDA/APHIS

For Immediate Release Please

From: Darol Dickinson
740 758 5050
May 14, 2009

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The first listening session hour began with a power point as USDA leaders spoke on the many theories of NAIS.

Neil Hammerschmidt, believed to be the driving force behind NAIS, carefully articulated virtues and protective benefits for livestock producers.

Security guards were on duty at all times during the listening sessions.

The head table featured l to r, Neil Hammerschmidt, Jeri Dick, and John Weimer.

Security guards were alerted to possible disturbances among farmers with planned dispatching.

USDA’s Larry Miller led one of 3 break-out afternoon sessions.

Extra security guards were on site in case of a major problem with livestock producers.

The furthest attendee was from Oregon. Speakers were provided 3 minutes to present their concerns. 

Harrisburg, Pa—the first of a series of NAIS Listening Sessions was held today at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Harrisburg, Pa. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack stated, “I encourage individuals and organizations to voice their concerns, ideas and potential solutions about animal identification.” And—voice concerns they did!

The Pennsylvania location was a choice spot for this first national effort by USDA. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Agriculture has been mellowed by USDA with $2,127,411 of cooperative agreements directly for the purpose of NAIS property enrollments. The state’s generous grants were successful in energizing one of the highest percentages of farm enrollments of any state, not counting Massachusetts, who according to USDA records have a 227.1% enrollment.

Pennsylvania should have a very high percentage of favorable NAIS listening session enrollees, but it didn’t happen.

Those responding to the invitation to “voice their concerns” requested formal speaking time up to 2 weeks in advance and signed up a second time this morning on arrival. Each hopeful speaker got to speak up to 3 minutes if their name was drawn. A total of 187 people requested to speak and 36 actually were successful.

The beginning agenda allowed for senior USDA staff to cajole the perceived merits of NAIS for a scheduled one hour period. Staff members Jere Dick, Neil Hammerschmidt, and John Weimer defined the goals and theory of the troubled program.

Crowd control was a consideration. Due to the “touchy” nature of this USDA effort up to eight law enforcement officers were positioned on perimeters of the Expo meeting room. Farmers and ranchers are normally law abiding country folk, so fortunately no arrests or altercations took place. USDA staff member and blue group leader, Larry Miller, requested speakers have a “respectful attitude” at all times during the process.

As approved presenters rapidly verbalized their three minute allotment, USDA staff were true listeners with seldom if any comment. Their reaction was somber regardless of the charged efforts of livestock producers, with many far from polite, and seasoned with colorful barn yard vernacular in many cases.

A large Amish delegation were represented offering passionate pleadings against mandatory NAIS. Others of faith expressed major concerns. Two livestock producers from Ohio attended, one lady from Oregon and most from within a five hour drive of the eastern Pennsylvania area.

Of the successful speakers, 27 were clearly opposed to NAIS and 4 spoke in favor. Three indicated they were enrolled in NAIS without their knowledge and one indicated they had enrolled by mistake and wish they had not. One lady said her husband enrolled against her will and now he understands.

Afternoon attendees were divided into three break-out groups with the assignment from Secretary Tom Vilsack (not present) “discussions will be less about concerns and more about ideas and solutions to create a NAIS that we can all live with.” Each group was to study seven questions and focus to identify workable solutions. The seven questions centered around, cost, impact on small farms, privacy and confidentiality, liability, premises registration, animal ID, and animal tracing. These are considered the most concerning objections to NAIS.

The three break-out groups recorded the following concerns:

• “There is no problem that NAIS will fix.”
• “Drop the program.”
• “Don’t use the word premises. I own property, not a premise.”
• “Trace only international imported and export animals.”
• “It is obvious enforcement is big with USDA by the looks of the police guards present here today. We are scared of your enforcements of NAIS mandatory on our farms.”
• “Leave us alone! I am just here to say, NO!”
• “We don’t trust USDA.”
• “USDA has a tarnished reputation of raiding family farms without cause. NAIS is designed to make farm raids more prevalent.”
• “If a government program isn’t worth doing, it is not worth doing right.”
• Statement to the break-out moderator, “Thank you for listening. The longer you listen—NAIS won’t be mandatory.”
• “NAIS is OK with me except for just one part—–MANDATORY.”
• “You have not been honest with us about the enrollment numbers for NAIS.”
• “USDA are amateur liars. I like to be lied to professionally.”
• “NAIS has a trust issue. We don’t trust NAIS.”
• An R-CALF USA eight point proposal for an alternative animal health program was recommended six times during the break-out session. (It was the only alternative solution offered.)
• “The country is in serious economical trouble. It is not the time to add more costs to farm production.”
• “Over 90% of farmers are opposed to NAIS. Will you still demand mandatory NAIS regardless of listening session results?
• “The USDA animal health program currently is effective, NAIS is not needed.”
• “Don’t call me a stakeholder. I am a land and horse owner. I am insulted by calling me a stakeholder. I am not holding the stakes for others.”
• “USDA should be working on vaccines to prevent disease instead of NAIS trace back.”

USDA’s John Weimer was asked about the results of the letter writing effort to USDA with a designated comment period about NAIS several months ago. Where were the results published? He did not recall the comment effort and did not know what happened to the hundreds of communications USDA received.

In the blue break-out group all speaking participants (43 total) were clearly opposed to NAIS. USDA’s group leader Larry Miller continued to redirect the emphasis from NAIS concerns, over to solution issues to make mandatory NAIS a palatable program. One dairy farmer said, “We have answered your questions. You are not listening. There is no way NAIS will work. No part of it will work. All seven questions are not solvable. Any people who want to do NAIS should be able to volunteer, but mandatory NAIS will cause bloodshed in the streets. We will refuse to surrender.”

Future USDA listening meetings on NAIS will be held at Pasco, WA, Austin, TX, Birmingham, AL, Louisville, KY, Storrs, CT, and Loveland, CO. Comments for those who may not be able to attend should be sent to the Federal eRulemaking Portal.

Leave our food alone!!

Its sad to say but Collin Peterson will not listen to anyone who does not agree with him.  He’s known as the invisible man here in Minnesota.  He’s also known for becoming red faced and bug eyed and quite testy  if confronted about the falsehoods and out right misrepresentations of these bills.  If you were to confront him right now his stock answer would be “How come I don’t know anything about that”?  “I never heard of that”……and this is how he side steps the actual question by making it appear that the person posing it has somehow lost their minds.  If you persist it is apparent he becomes enraged.  That was very apparent in the March 11 AG hearing when opponents of NAIS stated facts that refuted the stage show put on by the government.  It looked like Peterson was going to explode.    Marti

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www.LeaveMyFoodAlone.org

Congressman Collin Peterson, Chairman
House Committee on Agriculture
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Subject: An Open Letter and Petition to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson

Dear Congressman Peterson:

Your committee is currently reviewing H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. We, the undersigned, are members of America’s agricultural community and friends of farmers, hunters, gardeners, and all those who work to feed our country and its people. We believe that H.R. 875 is a bad bill which would make a worse law, and we urge you to reject this bill and the many errors about the direction of American agricultural policy it embodies.

1. This bill places the food-producing activities of ordinary American families under the control of an ill-defined and expensive bureaucracy – a bureaucracy which ignores the century-plus history of the FDA as the primary regulator of America’s food safety on the national level in favor of creating “czars” and working groups under the direct control of the White House.
2. This bill places intolerable burdens on small organic farms and alternative agricultural producers, requiring them to do business under the very methodology that many of them were founded to avoid. We agree that nobody should be permitted to market unsafe or dangerous foods, but this bill goes much too far in attempting to standardize and regulate the production of food by small operators. America has a long and proud tradition of innovation and experimentation in the production of food – a tradition which has led our country to its current position as the most food-secure nation on Earth. This bill would discard that proud tradition in favor of bureaucracy and government control.
3. This bill creates regulatory and administrative hurdles that seem specifically designed to choke the economic life out of small producers in favor of the major corporations which can better afford to adapt expensive regulatory regimes. Again, we agree that regulation and oversight are important tools for the government to use in ensuring that America’s food supply is safe- but we do not believe that these tools must be deployed in a one-size-fits-all solution that ignores the wide diversity of American agricultural production.

All Americans agree that food safety is a vital issue for our country, and we applaud you and your committee’s tireless work to ensure that America’s food supply remains safe and secure. However, H.R. 875 does not advance that goal – it harms it, by placing far too much power in the hands of unelected officials, and removing responsibility from the farmers who have fed this country, and the world, for more than two centuries. We urge you in the strongest possible terms to reject this bill and prevent the destruction and disruption that it would create in our nation’s most critical economic sector.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

www.LeaveMyFoodAlone.org   sign the petition here

The “Campaign Against America”

What was begun and partially implemented under the Republicans is now being finished by the Democrats.  If the majority of us have not understood by now that there is only one party in the District of Criminals, and that both factions of this party of controlling elites is dedicated to ending our sovereignty and thoroughly trashing our Constitution to meet that end, there is no hope for us.

Although most of the country heaved a sigh of relief when Bush 2 left office, taking with him the most corrupt cabinet and administration ever in our history, that relief was short lived.  It quickly became apparent that there would be a continuation of the “Campaign Against America” so successfully waged by the Bush Republicans.

When the Democrats assumed power many assumed there would be a reversal of all the egregious legislation that was neither Constitutional nor conducive to a free democratic society.  In that moment when we had to decide which lever to pull in the voting booth, which button to push many of us hoped this simple act would magically change the nightmare that has become our “government”. 

We voted for change.  The Democrats who promised change are fulfilling that promise with speed.  Here’s the change we can believe in:

• HR 814 National Animal Identification System (NAIS)

The theft of real livestock property from individual owners and producers creating a burdensome regulatory system with massive costs to family and independent producers while providing loopholes for industrialized corporate animal production; a known source of food contamination.  This program will do nothing to halt or track disease in livestock that isn’t already being done without it.

• HR 875, the Food Safety and Modernization Act and a host of other like-bills. 

Euphemistically referred to as “food safety” bills.  Dedicated to centralizing the food supply in the hands of industrialized corporate farming and ending family and independent farming and ranching.

These bills create a police state bureau which will be empowered to act outside the Constitution and not constrained by constitutional provisions or rights.  Each of them includes the Premises ID which empowers the government to seize and control previously owned individual property. 

These bills are dedicated to the takeover of all food production and supply in the US.

• HR 759 The Food and Drug Administration Globalization Act of 2009

This bill will facilitate the full implementation of Codex Alimentarius a world wide effort by the UN to seize control of food production and supply by forcing all nations to adhere to a contrived “harmonization” of laws.  Codex is set to be fully implemented by December 31, 2009 but without passage and adoption of Codex through legislative action, this would be an act of treason to subject the people of the US to non-US laws and regulations.

• S 787 :The Clean Water Restoration Act

              which is nothing more than the federal government seizing control of the US water supply from any source whatsoever.  

• S 773  The Cyber Security Act of 2009-10   

         This fine piece of fascist work includes a “kill switch” provision allowing the government at will, at its own determination to shut off all or   parts of the internet.  And of course there is s 778 which establishes a new office in the executive branch dedicated to doing this very thing.

 PS: On this kill switch issue they also want one on planes, and a “kill switch” is included in SMART GRID that ever expanding plan to dictate how much energy you can use with the capability of shutting down entire sections of the country……or just your house…..whatever suits their needs at the moment.

 With just these five bills our government is poised to;

• take over food production and supply and hand it over to their corporate handlers
• force family and independent food and livestock producers to “voluntarily” abandon their property rights and forfeit them to the federal government
• establish another police state bureaucracy whose main mission will be enforcement of this part of the police state
• seize control of the entire water supply allowing it to be converted from one of human right, to a tradable commodity for sale to the highest bidder and which will necessitate the creation of yet another bureaucracy to enforce this takeover
• Shut down all internet access and phone service at will to end the alternative sources of news and communication by the public to be enforced by another newly created bureaucracy located in the White House.
• Shut down all electric service either individually or by region or area which of course will require another unelected bureaucratic enforcement agency to be created.

Not one of these bills or programs will make us safe from terrorist attacks or do anything other than diminish our standing as a free people.  Each of these items is designed to lessen our freedom, to subject us to police state powers enforced by multiple police state enforcement agencies. 

 As for the “national security” claim and the threats of being attacked; we would be far better off to keep an eye on the Washington District of Criminals.  It is from the “district” that the greatest attacks on our freedom and liberty are being waged. 

(C) Marti Oakley 2009

Dickinson Longhorn cattle company continues its fight against NAIS

From the National Assn. of Farm Animal Welfare, 4.22.09

 

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Life is precious, even more so when a little life is hanging by a thread. Here at Dickinson Cattle Company Inc., near Barnesville, Ohio, USA, every life is priority, the people and the livestock. When every breath of oxygen and ounce of colostrum is life or death, tender love, and on the spot management is drastically important.

     

Herd health doesn’t come out of a bottle, or because of a federal law. It certainly is not about ear tags, or about Humane Society animal rights theory. It comes from devoted livestock management by the people who appreciate and respect livestock the most, the owners. Herd health is not a fourth of July rally. It goes all year long with generous amounts of clean hay, water and minerals during cold winter days.

Ranchers know their stock. Genetics are planned with special traits for many generations. Not only do producers know every herd animal, they often know their planned mating genealogies for 20 to 50 years deep back into historic pedigrees. The mind of a true stockman evaluates every trait of every animal. The herd sires receive multiple scrutiny. Frozen semen is a special tool for breed improvement. Check DCCI sires available at http://www.texaslonghorn.com/inventory/semen/index.cfm

Over 1000 livestock producing families per month go broke or terminate their businesses. This is caused by excessive enforcements, taxes, regulations of governments beyond reason, and the cost of labor having to compete against union salaries and the government’s high paying jobs. Each day Congress and the Senate pass more laws to increase cost of agriculture production. Look close at these American families and realize they are a vanishing species. They work day and night to excel. The elderly fear the future; youth innocently dream of the grandeur to come. As children prepare for the cattle shows of this coming Summer, Washington regulators prepare to force mandatory NAIS compliance to strap livestock owners with one more hard financial blow.

You may have called your elected federal officials hundreds of times and robotically treated like a borrowed mule, never receiving the dignity of a returned call. Try another hundred emails, letters, fax and phone calls. Call your state veterinarians who have all taken massive bribes (cooperative agreements) from the USDA to promote NAIS. As the elected and employed ones vote themselves increases of salary, insurance and retirements annually, thousands of food producers in the USA depart. Please try a few more times to contact your enforcers. Someday, one may listen to the people affected by their onerous legislations and do the right thing. Please say — NO to NAIS.

NAIS: Expensive, Intrusive, Unworkable

You can go directly to the www.nonais.org site just by clicking the link in our blogroll or, www.naisSTINKS.org for related articles and information.

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On April 15, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack held a roundtable discussion on the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS). He had invited 29 organizations, and I had the opportunity to represent the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC).

Secretary Vilsack opened by explaining that he was getting pressure from Congress, which is considering, apparently, cutting off the funding for NAIS unless the livestock industry works out a consensus to have better voluntary participation. I probably was not the only one in the room wondering: “And this is a bad thing?” He went on to mention that NAIS is becoming a requirement for international trade since all of our major competitors have NAIS type traceability systems.

I challenged this international market requirement, pointing out that last fall, when I delivered my calves, the buyer wanted source and age identification, which I gladly and easily provided. For the relatively small percentage of beef that we export, compared to our domestic market, a private system between buyers and sellers can work very well. Besides, I pointed out that country-of-origin labeling (COOL) is a marketing program and USDA had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the table. So why is USDA so obsessed with NAIS?

If NAIS is not a marketing program, what is it? Some people seem to think that it has something to do with food safety, which is pure nonsense. In the mid 1990’s USDA replaced meat inspectors with the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system (HACCP). In doing so, they did us a great disservice – HACCP – USDA’s gift that keeps on giving salmonella. If people are serious about food safety, then rescind HACCP.

USDA does not have a good record on homeland security either, which is the third rational advanced for NAIS. It was USDA that let bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and tuberculosis (TB) into the country. Homeland security comes from adequate inspections and controls on our borders, not by burdening producers in the heartland with an expensive, intrusive, and cumbersome animal ID system.

Finally, is NAIS a disease control system? It probably could be in some specific circumstances, and the American Veterinary Medical Association certainly thinks it is the answer to all problems. Their statement was by far most in favor of NAIS.

Many of the other attendees were on both sides of the fence. NCBA seemed to say that they opposed NAIS as long as it was a government controlled program, leaving the impression that if NCBA were to run it, they would be happily in favor of a mandatory program. In contrast, R-CALF and U.S. Cattlemen, along with WORC, were clear about their opposition to a mandatory program. The Public Lands Council also opposed it on the grounds that Premise ID in the West, where we have livestock going every which way for summer pasture, NAIS compliance would be very complicated. The American Sheep Growers also opposed, pointing out that the scrapie tag system was working very well as it is.

I think that we were pretty effective in pointing out that this country had controlled many diseases without NAIS. After all, in Montana, we have had an animal ID system – brands– in place for 125 years. I pointedly reminded Secretary Vilsack that USDA has not demonstrated to the western ranchers that NAIS adds value to what we have been doing all along.

I further pointed out that USDA does not have much credibility out West. Given its record with COOL, meat inspection, BSE, TB, and lack of enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act, there was very little reason to trust USDA over this NAIS program.

I also reminded Secretary Vilsack that WORC had sent him a letter on April 8th with a long list of questions about NAIS and how it would function. A timely response to that letter would be very beneficial and would clarify a lot, not only for the affected livestock owners, but also for USDA because the department does not seem that to have really thought this through.

After listening to the other groups represented (poultry, pork, horses, milk, elk, bison, monopoly packers, producers of natural foods, stockyards, etc.), it is clear that there is a complex mixture of needs and concerns. Something like NAIS might make sense for some species, some industry segments, and some states that do not have brand laws. However, I remain convinced that a single, overarching national system is too expensive, too intrusive, and unworkable.

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Gilles Stockton is a rancher from Grass Range, Mont., member of WORC’s Livestock Committee, and an international consultant on livestock production and marketing.

Kevin Dowling
Communications Director
WORC
220 S. 27th Street, Suite B
Billings, MT 59101
406-252-9672
http://www.worc.org

GM Food Nightmare Unfolding in the Regulatory Sham

 

http://www.nationalexpositor.com/News/177.html

ISIS – Regulator agencies like the European Food Safety Authority and the UK Food Standards Agency have been ignoring the precautionary principle, manipulating and corrupting science, sidestepping the law, and helping to promote GMOs in the face of massive public opposition and damning evidence piling up against the safety of GM food and feed

These charges are made in a devastating report [1] ( GM Food Nightmare Unfolding and the Regulatory Sham ) released today by the Institute of Science in Society*. The report has been submitted to the European Food Standards Agency, the World Health Organisation/ Food and Agriculture Organization Expert Consultation on GM Food Animals, and the UK Food Standards Agency, and it has been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

The 19-page report contains more than 130 references. It draws together evidence from all over the world indicating that GM food and feed may be inherently hazardous to health, regardless of the plant species or the genetic modification involved. For example,

• Female rats fed Roundup Ready soybeans gave birth to many severely stunted pups, with over half of the litter dead by three weeks, and the surviving pups were sterile; Roundup Ready soya has been approved worldwide for food and feed since 1996
• Farmers and workers exposed to Bt cotton and Bt maize have suffered serious allergy-like symptoms
• Livestock feeding on Bt crops and crop residues became ill and died in large numbers

“The evidence has stacked up to such an extent that our regulators should be answering a charge of criminal negligence at the very least in failing to ban GM crop and continuing with their campaign of denial and disinformation, and worse, helping to promote even more dangerous GM produce from the industry,” said Dr. Mae-Wan Ho. Dr Ho is the director of ISIS and lead author of the report co-authored with Joe Cummins , emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada, and Peter Saunders, emeritus Professor of Mathematics at King’s College, London University.

That Bt toxins can cause serious immune reactions was known long before they were widely incorporated into maize and cotton crops. Similarly, evidence that pieces of genetically modified (GM) DNA can be taken up and incorporated into the genomes of other cells – a process called horizontal gene transfer – has been steadily accumulating since the mid 1990s, when the ISIS scientists first sounded their warning to the regulators.

“GM DNAs often contain antibiotic resistance marker genes and other genes from bacteria and viruses that cause diseases. In addition, they have strong control signals – ‘promoters’ – that force the cell to express a foreign gene at high levels,” Dr. Mae-Wan Ho explains. “As a result, horizontal gene transfer not only spreads antibiotic resistance genes to harmful bacteria, it can create new bacteria and viruses that can cause epidemics. And if the strong promoter jumps into the wrong place in the genome of animal cells, it can boost the expression of oncogenes and cause the cells to multiply out of control, or cancer by another name.”

Europe and the UK are required by law to abide by the precautionary principle. Both have signed up to the Cartegena Protocol on Biosafety regulating GMOs, and a string of other international treaties for protecting health and the environment based on the precautionary principle. But systematic manipulation of scientific evidence and abuse of science by the regulatory authorities has meant that the precautionary principle is never invoked.

“GM food/feed looks like joining asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), BSE, tobacco and many others as yet another example of the government relying on bad scientific advice and ignoring the precautionary principle, with devastating consequences,” said Prof. Peter Saunders.

In three recent cases, American courts have ruled that the US Department of Agriculture failed to carry out proper environmental impact assessment before giving approval for releases of GM crops to the environment, and that the releases are therefore illegal.

“Regulation of genetically modified food crops in North America is a complete sham. It’s time for a shake up. The regulatory agencies must represent the law and the people not just corporate interests,” said Prof. Joe Cummins

For further information:

*The Institute of Science in Society is a UK London-based not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing critical public information on cutting edge science, and to promoting social accountability and ecological sustainability in science.

 http://www.nationalexpositor.com/News/177.html

Rep. DeLauro: Ever hear of the US Constitution?

New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992)?

State officials thus cannot consent to the enlargement of the powers of Congress beyond those enumerated in the Constitution.” (emphasis added) Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Representative DeLauro:

I live in the United States.  Not the Washington D.C. Corporate zone, but in the sovereign state of Minnesota in the sovereign United States.  You may be unfamiliar with that and the subsequent documents that establish not only my personal rights, but which also limit the reach of government, but then again, maybe not.  Its apparent you live in some other part of the world where individual liberties and rights are not a consideration; a place where police state conditions are not only accepted but, encouraged. 

I just read the bill you authored H.R. 875 and am left wondering just who it is you work for and where it is you live? 

Having printed off and actually reading your bill, I see that there are massive and extremely punitive punishments and fines for non-specific violators most of which would be leveled against small and independent producers, family farms and non-corporate operations.  In other words, you did not site specifically just who would be subject to these police state actions, nor did you specify who would possibly be exempt….like maybe small independent and family farmers and herders who aren’t the cause of the known food borne illnesses. 

I also noted that exemptions are provided for foreign importers such as China; a known source of contaminated foods, medicines and other products.  For the life of me I can not figure out why you would provide an exemption for countries that have consistently shown their disregard for the US consumer.

I couldn’t help note that in Sec. 406 you state:

In any action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction shall be presumed to exist.

This section says a whole lot in a very few words.  Any actions, enforcement, requirements, with regards to an assumed (not presumed) connection to food safety laws; in other words you can just assume interstate commerce is involved and claim jurisdiction.  That kind of blows away the “this isn’t going to affect farmers markets, home gardens, etc., doesn’t it?  It seems to me if [interstate commerce] is going to be assumed to exist in any attempts to enforce this new food policing law, anyone who produces, buys, or otherwise touches food from any source is by your definition and planned targeting, already engaged in [interstate commerce] and by extension and without any evidence needed, guilty.

Question:  Would this apply to Monsanto?

Your bill goes on to say that there will be no judicial review allowed, even to determine the validity of the charges that may be levied against an individual. 

See, that’s where the difference in where you live and where I live comes in.  Where I live the Constitution says that I have a right to due process and to habeas corpus.  I’m sure you’re confused here.  This simply means that I have a right to know who accuses me and the accuser must produce the evidence, and that no warrants shall issue unless the person requesting the warrant can show probable or reasonable cause.  So your “no judicial review even to establish the validity of the charges” won’t fly here where I live.  We don’t do things that way. 

Also (and this will surely come as a shock to you) your bill establishes an Administrator with dictatorial powers and creates another unmanageable and corruptible bureaucracy in an already bloated federal system.  We already have two very dysfunctional agencies that are supposed to be guarding the public health and safety in the areas of food safety and also drug safety.  These two agencies, the USDA and FDA have been so corrupted by corporate influence and money, neither serves the public interest or trust and have not for many years.  Yet along with corporate influence, taxpayers are forced to contribute to both.  Where the heck is all that money going?

I am assuming you are not aware of the fact that simply because an oppressive bill of this kind could be submitted to our Congress, it does not necessarily mean it is legal or constitutionally permitted.  (I can’t imagine what kind of crap you get away with where you live).  Here in the US, a Supreme Court Justice rendered her opinion on this very matter.  You might find this interesting and possibly something you should be cautious of should your country of residence ever adopt a Constitution.

Do you agree with the findings of the U.S. Supreme court in  New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144 (1992)?

(Page 133) Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

“Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate Branches of the Federal Government serves to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one Branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.

Where Congress exceeds its authority relative to the States, therefore, the departure from the constitutional plan cannot be ratified by the “consent” of state officials. An analogy to the separation of powers among the Branches of the Federal Government clarifies this point.  The Constitution’s division of power among the three branches is violated.  where one Branch invades the territory of another, whether or not the encroached upon Branch approves the encroachment….

The constitutional authority of Congress cannot be expanded by the “consent” of the governmental unit whose domain is thereby narrowed, whether that unit is the Executive Branch or the States.

State officials thus cannot consent to the enlargement of the   powers of Congress beyond those enumerated in the Constitution.”  (emphasis added)

What this should convey to you Ms. DeLauro, is that here in the US the congress cannot simply take it upon itself to foist illegal, oppressive, and unconstitutional laws onto the various States that comprise the sovereign United States.  It also means that state governments cannot arbitrarily subject the state or its people to an expansion of federal government outside the provisions set out in the Constitution by agreeing to that expansion. 

I know you must think your new [food safety] bill would effectively end any states rights and finally establish a centralized, industrialized agricultural system which would benefit all those corporations you seem to be so fond of, but we can’t let that happen here.  We’ve seen the affects of industrialized corporate agriculture in poorer nations where millions have been made destitute and left starving as a result.  Thanks, but no thanks. 

If you ever tire of the police state you live in and decide its not all you envisioned; if you yearn for freedom…..please feel free to immigrate to the US.  We have a very liberal immigration policy.  In fact, you can even avoid all the pesky red tape that results from applying for immigration and just run our southern border.  Its wide open and millions have successfully crossed it without penalty. 

Sincerely,

Marti Oakley

(C)2009

Swine Flu

http://nonais.org/2009/04/30/swine-flu/

NoNAIS.org

News — walterj 10:35 am

 

Walter & Pigs on Fox 44 News 

I got a call yesterday afternoon from reporter Ben Kennedy of Fox44 News in Colchester, VT wanting to interview a pig farmer about the “swine” flu.

I started to explain that it wasn’t really ’swine’ flu but he had done his homework and already knew that. In fact, that was the focus of his report. Mr. Kennedy wanted to discuss that the flu wasn’t about pigs and there was confusion from the name. He ask if our pork sales were being affected by the confusion of the name – they aren’t.

After we chatted on the phone he and his cameraman Matt drove all the way over to our farm and visited the pigs. That’s a long several hour drive for what ultimately becomes about a minute or so of air time. (video – text).

“Swine” flu was a misnomer and even the news media is beginning to use the correct term of A/H1N1 since this flu virus is really a combination of genetics including human, avian and swine which is being transmitted and spread by people, not pigs or birds. One confusion I’ve seen stated in some places was the mistaken idea that antibiotic abuse would cause the flu outbreak. This is false – antibiotics don’t do anything for viruses. The flu is a virus – a.k.a. influenza. Part of this confusion might come from the fact that when people do succumb to the flu antibiotics are used to save their lives, treating the secondary bacterial infections.

Of course, time well tell what the full scoop is. In a few weeks or months we’ll have a better idea. Hopefully, like the Bird Flu scare of a few years ago this A/H1N1 influenza will fizzle and turn out to be a dud. It is very sad that it has killed the people who have died to date, and those who may yet die. There is a lot to be said for prevention – It makes sense to take reasonable biosecurity precautions as we continue on with our lives. It is not completely harmless, as the deaths prove, and it is being transmitted person to person. Be careful but not paranoid. The hysteria can be worse than the disease as being demonstrated in Egypt where this flu is being used as an excuse for depopulation.

Speaking of depopulation, I wanted to pass along that a source at the Ag department told me yesterday that depopulation is not being discussed for swine in the United States. They had listened to the USDA Secretary Vilsack’s speech on this where he emphasized that this is not a pig issue thus we should not worry about depopulation.

A much bigger issue is the enormous centralization and distribution systems that spread disease – ah, you thought I meant factory farms, no as much as I dislike them, I’m talking about air travel and other shipping of everything all around the globe. The number one way to spread disease is modern distribution. We’re shipping people and objects too often and too far. This isn’t just a pollution and global warming issue. Along with everything shipped, from spinach to wooden pallets to people, tags along disease, alien plants and foreign animals, such as the long horn beetles that came from Asia on pallets and are attacking our trees. When people travel they can carry disease from location to location as has happened throughout history. Should we stop all travel? No, but perhaps it would be wise to travel less, to use online meeting resources more and keep in mind that all this travel does carry a real risk, not just pleasure. It is a luxury that should be used judiciously.

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The coming food crisis and the apathy and greed of The World Trade Organization

 

At the core of all the economic, financial and agricultural disasters being experienced around the world is the ideology and philosophy of globalism.  Globalism is nothing less than the concerted efforts to destroy economies and governments and to destroy sovereign nations in every part of the world for the personal gain and edification of a few select individuals and corporations.

 

At the core of this philosophy is the obsession to overtake agriculture and the ability of each nation to feed them selves.  The access to food and ability to produce food is the biggest obstacle to those who seek world domination.  If several million of us starve to death while the World Trade Organization and the World Bank orchestrate one calamity after another…so what? 

 

As a result of world wide efforts and facilitated by the unregulated and rampant assault on biodiversity by bio-pirates, pesticide and herbicide producers whose goals are to increase control and profits regardless of how many of the worlds people starve, the US is verging on losing its ability to feed itself as food is exported in the name of globalism or is limited by bio-pirates who have corrupted and patented life forms. While we lose that ability we are being slowly poisoned to death as water and land become contaminated from the overuse of toxic chemicals and the planting of gmo seeds.  

 

The greatest threat to the populations of the world is the sale and forced use of [terminator or traitor seeds]; a seed which the USDA helped develop and patent here in the US.  The development of traitor seeds renders any “humanitarian” arguments as false.

 

The World Trade Organization’s insistence on unregulated trade and what they refer to as [structural adjustments policies] meaning the implementation of economically destructive bi-lateral free trade agreements which usurp individual sovereign laws and protections, has caused poorer nations to drop self protective tariffs designed to protect local agriculture.  It is estimated that 845 million people go hungry in the world each day.  80% of those facing hunger are small family farmers from developing countries who produced food for local consumption. 

 

The proposed pieces of legislation now in both houses of our congress are meant to do nothing more than eradicate local farming and ranching operations in the US in favor of centralized industrial operations.  If any one of these bills pass, the newly created agency will effectively police and enforce WTO and globalist agendas. 

 

As a result of globalism and unregulated free trade, [which is not the same as free enterprise or fair trade] hedge funds, private speculators and stock traders have turned food from a human right into a bargaining “for profit” tool.  Apparently when speculators or investors are betting on how high they can push the price of food for profit, they never acknowledge there are people starving as a result.  What is even more apparent is that they don’t care.  Food for profit by investors has super-ceded the right to food by human beings.

 

Hunger is no accident but for the worlds multi-national corporate plunderers and bio-pirates who operate out of the WTO, not a consideration.  The creation of an unsustainable debt industry meant to destabilize world economies leaves millions without the ability to purchase food as their nations are driven into un-repayable debt. 

 

What does the WTO mean by structural adjustments?  Using a 1994 loan from the International Monetary Fund (World Bank) WTO as an example, WTO insisted on express provisions which forced Haiti to open its markets to globalist free trade effectively wiping out local rice farmers.  Rice farming ended as the US dumped massive amounts of subsidized rice into that country. Now, Haitians cannot afford even the most basic of foods as rice and other foods have reached unaffordable levels.   Food-aid comes at such a high price in these situations.  It isn’t given freely or out of humanitarian considerations; it is bargained for, speculated on, and tagged to untenable future agreements which will drive Haiti and other countries unfortunate enough to be caught in this trap into total ruin, making them ripe for international plundering and economic rape.

 

As millions around the world face daily starvation, multi-national corporations monopolize seeds sales and post record profits while leaving many countries without the resources needed to sustain their populations.  

 

The UN meantime,  fine tunes its [stamping out] policy in an effort to reduce the availability of animals that could be used for food and our Homeland Security Department plans a June showing of this technique of dropping entire herds and all wildlife in a given area. 

 

The globalization of the entire system of food has resulted in mass starvation.  40 countries now face mass starvation and are experiencing food riots while the United Nations, the World Trade Organization and World Bank pretend they don’t know or feign concern and fail to acknowledge less than half the grain produced around the world goes to feed human beings.  Instead, food is being used to create bio-fuels and feed for animals. 

 

Our government is no less culpable as it seeks to enrich corporate donors at the expense not only of our nation, but of the world.

 

Its too bad there isn’t a stock indexed to human misery, a veritable fortune could be made by those who value profits more than human life.

 

 (C) 2009 Marti Oakley

Wisconsin’s war against agriculture: Fines, imprisonment and property seizure

  

 

“The first thing they did when they got the authority to write rules……was to grant themselves the authority to conduct warrant-less searches.”  Paul G.   

 In the course of researching various topics, running down leads on information and ferreting out the plans behind the public propaganda used to infringe on one right after another, I sometimes stumble across someone who has so much verifiable information, I am left astounded.  This was the case when I happened across a gentleman farmer named Paul Griepentrog while researching the laws or bills about Premises ID and the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

I already knew the mandatory law had been bought and paid for in Wisconsin through the use of a USDA “cooperative agreement” to the tune of 35 million dollars.

In a recent interview I asked Paul to answer a few questions about what is really happening to Wisconsin residents who are being forced onto these illegal programs:

Q:  Does the Animal Health Protection Act of 2003 actually authorize the Animal Identification System or Premises ID?

A: There is nothing in that bill giving them authority to create or establish the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).  That law has been misquoted saying that it is the authority for NAIS.  We have repeatedly sent letters to USDA and Tom Vilsack asking him to show the section of that law that gives the authority but he refuses to answer or acknowledge the letters.

Q: Has the USDA in collusion with the Wisconsin AG department threatened any farms that you know of?

A: Dwayne Brander on behalf of Dr. McGraw, Assistant State Veterinarian, goes out to farms telling them that if they don’t renew or register their premises in the State of Wisconsin they will file suit against them for failing to comply, using the county DA and calling it a civil forfeiture.

Wisconsin is in the process of coercing farmers and backyard producers in an effort to force them onto NAIS and the accompanying Premises ID program by threatening to withhold any of the licenses they control and would refuse to give the license unless you signed up.  

Q: Is there a part of the law in Wisconsin that allows for fines and imprisonment based on the sole allegations of these agencies or representative personnel from USDA or DATCP in Wisconsin?

A: Here is section 95 from the Wisconsin bill implementing the “voluntary” NAIS/Premises ID law:

 

CHAPTER 95

ANIMAL HEALTH

95.23Disease investigation and enforcement.

95.23(1)

(1) Authorized inspectors and agents of the department may enter at reasonable times any premises, building or place to investigate the existence of animal diseases or to investigate violations of or otherwise enforce the laws relating to animal health. Any animals or materials suspected of being infected may be examined or tested. No person shall obstruct or interfere with such investigation or enforcement work, or attempt to do so, in any manner, by threat or otherwise.

95.23(2)

(2) Upon request of an authorized inspector or agent of the department, sheriffs and police officers shall assist in the enforcement of the laws relating to animal health.

95.99Penalties.

95.99(1)

(1) Any person who violates this chapter, or an order issued or a rule adopted under this chapter, for which a specific penalty is not prescribed shall, for the first offense, be fined not more than $1,000; and for any subsequent offense fined not less than $500 nor more than $1,000, or imprisoned not more than 6 months or both.

95.99(2)

(2) The department may seek an injunction restraining any person from violating this chapter or any rule promulgated under this chapter.

95.99(3)

(3) A person who violates this chapter or any rule promulgated or order issued under this chapter, for which a specific penalty is not prescribed, may be required to forfeit not less than $200 nor more than $5,000 for the first offense and may be required to forfeit not less than $400 nor more than $5,000 for the 2nd or subsequent offense committed within 5 years of an offense for which a penalty has been assessed under this section. A forfeiture under this subsection is in lieu of a criminal penalty under sub.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Q: Do citizens have the right to demand a full disclosure of the exact laws and basis under which USDA and Wisconsin have charged them?  Is there any defense against these attacks?

A: There seems to be none.  In the cooperative agreement it states all applicable federal laws shall apply.  There are certain major State and Federal Constitutional issues that these laws are in conflict with.

Q: Who exactly is asking for this information?

A: The Department of Agriculture, State of Wisconsin administered by Assistant State Veterinarian, Dr. Paul McGraw; both knowing this has nothing to do with livestock or food safety.  This comes from The World Trade Organization and their trade program OIE, World Organization Animal Health.

Q: Where is the information stored? For what purpose?

A: Initially intake is at state level, and then it moves through forms records management plan.  There are different steps on how they process this information.  From everything I read a disease outbreak would give state, federal and international interest’s access.

Q  Who is storing the information?

A: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and then to Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium with (WLIC) as final repository in Canada. The WLIC is comprised of various agriculture groups, breed associations and companies selling RFID tags. 

Rep. Obey & Sen. Kohl helped to get WLIC started and moved the data base to Canada.  The head of WLIC initially was Gary Tauchen who is now a Wisconsin representative and sitting on the house AG committee. 

In my own case I have been registered twice after the fire number on my property changed.  Once under the original number and my name and again under the newly assigned number and my farm name; I did not register for Premises ID on either occasion and was signed up without my knowledge or consent.

Q: If the WLIC is listed as the last repository of data mined information, how did files on Wisconsin agricultural properties end up being stored in Canada?

A: WLIC with the help of Rep. Obey and Sen. Kohl although I don’t know for sure how this was accomplished. The intention was to avoid any Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request or open information requests until they passed the 2008 Farm Bill and included a provision in that bill saying that these files would not be available to FOIA requests. 

Q.  Who had access to these files when they were outside the country?

A:  We don’t know.  Once it was outside US jurisdiction we had no way of knowing.

Q:  Are you able to get copies of your personal file from the Canadian data bank?

A:  I was able to obtain the premises information pursuant to the forms records management plan.  To my knowledge I am only the second person to do so.

 Q:  We know these programs have nothing to do with tracking animal disease and are actually meant to end competition for industrialized agricultural interests, and to seize control of agricultural lands and livestock….who are the actual players that will benefit from these programs?

A: The big corporate industrialized agriculture operators….Cargill, Tyson, Monsanto and others because they would see the end to competition and obtain virtually full control over all agriculture.

Q:  Are Wisconsin politicians either state or federal willing to speak to you about NAIS, Premises ID or the fake food safety bills?

A: On the Federal level, Sen. Kohl and Rep. Obey will not take my calls.

(* writers note: I made my own calls to these offices and when I stated what I was calling in reference to, the staffers got really nasty and then hung up)

In fact Sen. Kohl’s staffer, Kim Cates’ husband is on the Agriculture Consumer Protection Citizen board.  He would not even meet with John Kinsman of Family Farm Defenders to discuss the issue.

On the state level are the continuous lies.  These people will say Premises ID has nothing to do with NAIS.  They say this even though they have been shown the cooperative agreement between USDA and Wisconsin DATCP outlining Premises ID as the first step.  They refuse to look at or acknowledge the legal documents.

DATCP had a document on the Wisconsin Legislative information Bureau site saying that the Amish don’t have any problem with this.  If the Amish don’t have a problem with it why are they suing Emmanuel Miller Jr.? An Amish from Clark County.

Steve Kagen would not address our concerns and he’s on the US house Ag sub- committee that held a hearing on NAIS and is also involved in the food safety bills and won’t address our concerns even there.  He is working right now to get funding to move Wisconsin into phase II of NAIS which is the mandatory chipping and tagging of all animals.

I will say that Sen. Feingold has been willing to listen to our concerns both in his Washington office and in the state office. 

Although there is a bill in Wisconsin which would restore voluntary participation I feel it is nothing more than an attempt at political redemption by the same people who passed the mandatory bill to begin with, in that they are fully aware that this bills will be sent to the House Ag committee and never see the light of day.  This is merely political posturing……..the house, senate and government are all controlled by Democrats.  This may be nothing more than a smoke screen while they make mandatory phase II which is the tagging and chipping, which can’t be done unless you have a Premises ID.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 In the end, what was billed and sold to Wisconsin farmers and herders as a strictly “voluntary” system turns out to be a mandatory system operated much like a police state enforcement policy.  There can be no doubt, especially in light of the hyped up investigation and enforcement policies that this law in Wisconsin is less about disease and more about property seizure and forfeiture.

Wisconsin is the blueprint for the remaining states:  what happens there is going to happen to all independent ranchers, farmers and producers across the country if any of these fake food safety bills, or National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is passed into law. 

 © 2009 Marti Oakley

 

Codex meeting: One huge threat to US sovereingty

Doesn’t this all sound all warm and fuzzy?  Never mind that Codex has been the catalyst for hunger and starvation around the world, or that it is funded and controlled by multi-national corporations.  Just tack the United Nations on it and all of our laws and protections fall by the way side.   Our right to alternative health treatments, vitamins and supplments are about to go up in international smoke.  Rather than protecting quality of food or access to it, Codex facilitates the lowering of standards and regulations easing the way for higher multi-national corporate profits.  This isn’t about food safety, quality or access……its all about MONEY!   Marti

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/NR_041009_01/index.asp

 

Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Roger Sockman

 

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2009 – The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration, (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a public meeting to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. Positions that will be discussed at the 18th Session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF), to be held in Natal, Brazil, May 11-15, 2009.

 

The public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29, from 10 a.m. To 1 p.m., Room 107-A, Jamie Whitten Federal Building, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. Attendees must pre-register and present photo identification at the door. To pre-register, please send your name, organization, mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address to Jasmine Matthews by e-mail touscodex@fsis.usda.gov, by phone at (202) 690-1124 or by fax at (202) 720-3157.

 

Documents and agenda items related to the 18th Session of CCRVDF will be available on the Codex Alimentarius Web site at www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.

 

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, and ensure fair food trade practices and promote coordination of food standards undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

 

The CCRVDF is responsible for determining priorities for the consideration of residues of veterinary drugs in foods, to recommend maximum levels of such substances, to develop codes of practice as may be required, and to consider methods of sampling and analysis for the determination of veterinary drug residues in foods. The Committee is hosted by the United States.

 

Written comments may be submitted by interested parties by e-mail to the U.S. Delegate to the CCRVDF, Dr. Steven Vaughn, FDA, at Brandi.Robinson@fda.hhs.gov. For further information concerning the 18th Session of the CCRVDF, contact Dr. Steven Vaughn, D.V.M., by e-mail atSteven.Vaughn@fda.hhs.gov, by phone at (240) 276-8300, or by fax at (240) 276-8242.

 

For further information about the public meeting or to request a sign language interpreter or any other special accommodation, contact Jasmine Matthews, U.S. CodexOffice, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA, by e-mailuscodex@fsis.usda.gov, or by phone at (202) 690-1124 or fax at (202) 720-3157.   

DeLauro can’t hear anyone but big AG as she tries to force NAIS and fake food safety bills

YUPFARMING

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Rosa DeLauro, no friend of farmers, is tired of their “foot dragging”

http://yupfarming.blogspot.com/2009/04/rosa-delauro-no-friend-of-farmers-is.html

 

Rosa DeLauro who receives one of the largest amounts of money from Agribusiness of anyone in Congress, said “in a phone interview on Tuesday that she has “lost patience for a voluntary system that has registered only 35 percent of U.S. Livestock facilities over five years and received $142 million in funding.” [From the AP]

The actual number is less than 10% . But even with the USDA inflating the number 3 and 1/2 times, it’s still obvious small farmers who are already threatened in this country, don’t want it.

 

As a self-described progressive who claims to care about small farmers, has it occurred to her to listen to what farmers want and need for themselves?  Has she noticed that farmers across the country detest and fear NAIS?  Has she seen that they feel this to such a degree that they have created anti-NAIS chapters in every state?  

 

Is she aware they have been asking the USDA for clarification many times over those same five years, over whether Premises ID portion of NAIS is actually a take over of their farmland?  Is she aware that Emmanuel Miller, an Amish man in Wisconsin where there is a religious exemption written into the law, is still being sued for not signing on?  

Is she aware that the Organic Consumers Association and its 850,000 progressive members are strongly opposed to NAIS, and with sane and sound reasons the video describes, as opposed to the “lunatic ” program Jim Hightower, the former Texas Commissioner of Agriculture, calls NAIS.  

“We are tired of the foot-dragging on this issue,” said DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat. “We need to move forward on this.”

Who is the “we,” Ms. Delauro refers to?  Monsanto?  Tysons?  Cargill?  ADM?  All of whom were part of devising the program through their corporate association known as the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA)?

Certainly not the small farmers in this country who have been working desperately for the last five years to fend off NAIS, a program they see clearly will crush them.  

Whom does Ms. DeLauro represent when she says “we”?  On whose behalf is she so openly disgusted with farmers who are doing all they can to save their farms and livelihoods and in some cases, lives, by NOT signing on?  

It doesn’t take a lot to see that if the government has thrown millions into forcing them onto NAIS and still they are resisting, something must be very wrong with the program.  (And why was that money not spent on USDA inspectors who are in such short supply that inspectors call the job “just a joke” ?)  

The Premises ID portion, which is supposed to be about tracking animals back to farms in case of animal disease, for some reason includes mapping global coordinates of the farmers’ land.  Why?  They have addresses.  They can be found.  How is the size and shape of land related to locating anyone?  Even if a farmer (or any of us) owns only a single chicken, they are supposed to sign on.  And if they get rid of the chicken, the land remains recorded … within a corporate data bank … which is being held outside the country in Canada … where the Freedom of Information Act can’t access it.  

Ms. DeLauro, what is really involved here?  “Premises” is an international term which appears to change a farmer from an “owner” to a mere “stake holder” in his own land.  Farmers have sent many, many formal requests to Bush’s USDA and Obama’s and cannot get an answer.  They fear their land is being taken using animal disease as a cover.  Until farmers have a guarantee they are not being forced onto a contract that steals their land out of from under them, what do you expect them do besides foot drag?  

Even urban people are buying chickens to raise for eggs – whether because of economic collapse, or out of the pleasure of learning about farming.  Do you really expect us all to be trapped onto NAIS, to face fines of up to a million dollars a day and ten years in prison for not recording every move a child makes with their new chick by taking it off the “premise” to “co-mingle” with the kitten next door as the child shows a friend?  Do you expect us all to be subject to prison terms for not recording a trip to school with a duck for show and tell?  Do you expect us all to have our property mapped into a corporate data bank, coordinates taken of it, and easements put on our land to allow for warrantless government entry (all part of NAIS and Premises ID) because we get a bunny?  

This country is facing collapse.  We need our farmers.  Industrial food in increasingly dangerous.  We need our farmers.  We don’t want genetically engineered food.  We need our farmers.

How can you call yourself a progressive and treat our farmers as you are doing, forcing them onto a program that Michael Pollan says flat out, will destroy them?  

“Instead of seizing on these threats as a reason to decentralize our food supply, the government is bringing in more regulation and technology. 

 

 

Progressive senators are proposing that we begin to regulate farms the way we regulate meat plants. That will put small farms out of business. So you see what happens as industrial agriculture fails and sickens us. The solutions promote more industrialization of agriculture. 

A progressive is supposed to stand with the little guy against corporations, not take money from Agribusiness and wipe out the small farmer.  A progressive is supposed to protect threatened classes of people like our farmers.  A progressive is supposed to defend our environment from pesticides and GMOs and CAFOs.  

Those of us who have looked even cursorily into NAIS don’t buy the nonsense about animal disease protection – especially not when the USDA is ready to let in animals from countries where there is active disease and it being farmers trying to stop that.  In fact, in Asia, animal diseases caused by multinational agribusiness is being used to eliminate small farmers’ normal animal stocks so genetically engineered ones can be substituted .  We don’t want that to happen here though the FDA appears to be setting up for it .

Ms. DeLauro, the reality is that true progressives, conservative farmers, liberal organic farmers, foodies, lovers of farmers and farmers markets, and all those who care about animals and recognize our small farmers are the ones protecting our biodiversity in animals, don’t want NAIS. 

You are pushing a plan that it a clear threat to our small farmers, while criticizing them for not marching faster to their demise.  

Instead, have sympathy for why they are balking and join the rest of us in getting rid of NAIS entirely.  

You’ll have farmers’ undying gratitude.  And our thanks for saving their lives, and with them and their clean food and normal animals, all of our lives and future.  

 

 

 

 

Posted by yupfarming at 2:31 AM

NAIS ~~~ Real Private Sector Discrimination!

From: National Assn of Farm Animal Welfare                 PRESS RELEASE

            280 Fair Ave. Suite #35

            Fairview, Ohio 43736 – USA                FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

            Ag.Ed@nafaw.org

            Darol Dickinson, 4.6.09

           

NAIS ~~~ Real Private Sector Discrimination!

The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) has been promoted by USDA for over 10 years with minimal appreciation from livestock owners. Over $130,000,000 of US taxpayer money has been squandered to promote the system. Many quasi reasons for NAIS have been asserted like secret World Trade Organization treaties, export development, source/age verification, animal disease trace back, and the last inference has been food safety. None of these ploys have convinced over three million holdout US producers to be penitent and enroll their private properties into NAIS; coercion is next.

Beyond the wearying inertia for NAIS enrollment is the hypocritical element that plagues USDA. There are, according to the new US Agriculture census, 32,834,801 beef cows. While USDA is pressing to have all beef cows cataloged on the secret NAIS federal computer, another herd is not mentioned with even a whisper. This larger herd is spread over all 50 states, and roams back and forth across Canadian, *Russian, and Mexican borders without documentation or enforcement. This huge herd is the state and federal game animal inventory. No mention of their premises, or RFIDs is in the USDA surveillance plans. The government responsibility of these numerous species is not an issue for NAIS, only enforcement of the domestic private sector livestock.

U.S. farm livestock are contained on over three million fenced properties, but the government managed game animals are not. They have the ability to roam unfettered. This wild mingling is the fastest way to spread disease, however USDA does not concern itself with sister governmental inventories, nor do they have any plan to deal with these disease issues.

In all fairness to the government wildlife management systems, perhaps it is not a big deal. Yet the Quality Deer Management Association says White Tail Deer number over 32,000,000. That is just the White Tail species. To look at more government animals traveling North America, how about 4,000,000 wild boar and over a million elk according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. There are nearly a million antelope and caribou. Other wild inventory roaming over private property and federal lands include bison, bear, black tail deer, millions of mule deer, burros, moose, mountain goats, reindeer, and the terror of western ranchers, wild horses. These numbers impressively stack up well over double the beef cow inventory.

If the federal government emphatically believes all domestic livestock should be NAIS compliant, should the federal and state government’s herd also comply? To set a good example, perhaps all feral game animals should be NAIS tagged, before demanding US farmers tag all their docile carefully managed animals? Is that a reasonable policy?

Currently Michigan is fighting TB problems and requires NAIS mandatory enforcement on all domestic livestock. Whoa? But didn’t the first Michigan cattle to show up with TB trace their exposure to state owned wild life? Who caused the burden of 10 years of quarantines for Michigan with serious trade barriers to the commercial domestic livestock sales? How much did the free range deer of Michigan do to damage private livestock investments? Plenty!

Yellow Stone Park has historically been a hot bed of problems to ranchers in counties and states near the park. Disease has created no major concerns for the government on their elk and buffalo herds, but financial disaster for private sector livestock nearby.

Is NAIS about disease? Perhaps, but only in the light of insidious creeping fascism and the loss of individual rights.

What about safe food? There are stacks of rules and regulations regarding processing of domestic red meat, but no rules affect processing of harvested deer, mostly field dressed and chilled in a remote tree. No issue of safe or diseased meat product has attracted a NAIS red flag with government owned game animals harvested.
NAIS is said to be a human food safety issue. More U.S. human lives are lost from large game animal auto smashes than all E.coli bacteria food issues, bull fighting, Nascar, rodeo and sports related accidents.

What about death? Some death is OK, but some death is not. According to Dr. Michael Conover, Director of the Berryman Institute at Utah State University, deer vehicle collisions are responsible for an estimated 200 human fatalities, 29,000 injuries and over $1.1 billion in property damage each year. Even more shocking, since there are over 32 million whitetails in the US, one of every 21 deer will be involved in an auto collision, mostly fatal to the deer. With over two million wild hogs in Texas alone, data is similar with auto/hog smashups.

Enforcement, maybe? Disease is something that happens in feral game herds, but a very contrasting standard is dictated under private sector management. All US breeders of superior trophy horned penned deer must be licensed by their state Division of Wildlife. An annual Wild Animal Propagation Permit must be purchased and an inspector checks the inventory and facilities regularly. No animals can move to neighboring herds or states without a series of veterinarian inspections and certificates, at the owner’s expense. Violators face business destroying penalties.

NAIS, many believe, is planned to become a Propagation Permit program with an inspection process for all domestic livestock just like current penned deer compliance. NAIS is about funding, government jobs, control, and enforcement income.

A discernible prejudice is obvious between USDA’s enforcement of private sector livestock and animals owned by the government. The private sector livestock is hammered with regulations, but government animals exist with constant planned negligence—– unnoticed and unenforced. All of NAIS is a clear case of arbitrary decisions of random bureaucrats.

Robin Hood, the legend of old, shot the king’s deer, who were eating the peasants corn fields. He and the peasants faced certain beheading if caught. Now, hundreds of years later the deer are still in the peasant’s fields. The King still owns the deer, but now the King sells hunting licenses to his subjects causing less fear of decapitation. The King also wants all peasants to buy their own computer, learn to use it, then place an NAIS chip or tag in all their own critters.

It cannot be repeated often enough—the Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals. It is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen’s protection against the government.

Now, what was that reason for private sector NAIS again?

*Brown bear, ocean mammals, arctic fox, water fowl, etc.

Group Brings Vilsack 8-Point Alternative to NAIS

R-CALF United Stockgrowers of America

 

“Fighting for the U.S. Cattle Producer”

 

For Immediate Release                                                                                                                           Contact: Shae Dodson, Communications Coordinator

April 2, 2009                                                                                                                                             Phone:  406-672-8969; e-mail: sdodson@r-calfusa.com

 

 

Washington, D.C. – In formal correspondence sent to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today, R-CALF USA has recommended an 8-point alternative course to the controversial National Animal Identification System (NAIS), originally forced on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by the previous Administration.

 

“R-CALF USA urges Congress and USDA to immediately and completely abandon the flawed National Animal Identification System,” said R-CALF USA President/Region VI Director Max Thornsberry, a Missouri veterinarian who also chairs the group’s animal health committee. “Instead, we recommend that Congress and USDA focus on targeted solutions to the legitimate livestock disease-related challenges faced by U.S. livestock industries, and take steps to meaningfully address legitimate food safety challenges, as are evidenced by recent and massive recalls of meat produced in U.S. slaughtering plants.”

 

Specifically, R-CALF USA has recommended the following eight-point alternative course:

 

1.       Prevent the importation of serious cattle diseases and pests from foreign sources by:

 

a.       Prohibiting the importation of livestock from any country that experiences outbreaks of serious zoonotic diseases, including pests, until scientific evidence demonstrates the diseases and/or pests have been eradicated or fully controlled and there is no known risk of further spread. This recommendation includes a request for an immediate ban on live cattle imports from Canada, which harbor a heightened risk for BSE.

 

b.       Requiring all imported livestock to be permanently and conspicuously branded with a mark of origin so identification can be made if a zoonotic disease or serious pest outbreak occurs in the exporting country subsequent to importation.

 

c.       Requiring all livestock imported into the United States to meet health and safety standards identical to those established for the United States, including adherence to U.S. prohibitions against certain feed ingredients, pesticide use on feedstuffs, and certain livestock pharmaceuticals.

 

d.       Requiring TB testing of all imported Mexican cattle and further requiring that all Mexican cattle remain quarantined in designated feedlots until slaughtered.

 

e.       Reversing USDA’s efforts to carve out regions within disease-affected foreign countries in order to facilitate imports from the affected country before the disease of concern is fully controlled or eradicated.

 

f.        Increasing the testing of all imported meat and bone meal to prohibit contaminated feed from entering the United States.

 

2.       Adopt the surveillance and identification components of the preexisting brucellosis program, including the metal eartag and tattoo that identifies the state-of-origin and the local veterinarian who applied the identification devices, and require breeding stock not otherwise identified through breed registries to be identified at the first point of ownership transfer.   

 

3.       State and Tribal animal health officials should be solely responsible for maintaining a statewide database for all metal tags applied within their respective jurisdictions and should continue to use the mailing address and/or the production unit identifier determined appropriate by the attending veterinarian to achieve traceback to the herd of origin should a disease event occur. Under no circumstances should the Federal government maintain a national registry of U.S. livestock or require the national registration of producers’ real property.

 

4.       The federal government should enter into agreements with State and Tribal animal health officials to pay for the States’ and Tribal governments’ costs of identifying breeding stock and maintaining the State and Tribal databases, as well as bolstering disease surveillance at livestock collection points such as livestock auction yards and slaughtering plants, including increased surveillance for BSE.

 

5.       The federal government should coordinate with the States and Tribes to establish electronic interface standards and to establish improved communication protocols so it can more effectively coordinate with the States and Tribes in the event of a disease outbreak.

 

6.       The federal government should coordinate with the States and Tribes to establish improved protocols for the retention and searchability of State and Tribal health certificates, brand inspection documents and other documents used to facilitate interstate movement of livestock. 

 

7.       Establish specific disease programs and focus increased resources toward the eradication of diseased wildlife in States where wildlife populations are known to harbor communicable diseases.

 

8.       To address the challenge of increased incidences of tainted meat products, Congress and USDA must substantially reform the current hands-off inspection system known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP). HACCP has fundamentally failed to ensure adequate sanitary practices at major slaughterhouse establishments.  As part of the HACCP reform, Congress should implement a requirement that meat sold at retail and at food service establishments be traceable back to the slaughterhouse that produced the meat from live animals, not just back to the processor that may have further processed tainted meat. This simple improvement would enable investigators to determine and address the actual source of meat contamination – primarily the unsanitary conditions that allow enteric-origin pathogens, such as E. coli O157:H7, to contaminate otherwise healthful meat.

 

“R-CALF USA appreciates the Secretary’s consideration of these recommendations and we look forward to working with the Secretary to enhance our nation’s animal disease preparedness in a manner that builds upon our past successes and does not infringe on the rights and privileges of U.S. livestock producers,” Thornsberry concluded.

 

Note: To view/download a copy of the letter to Vilsack, please visit the “Animal ID” link at www.r-calfusa.com.

 

                                                                                                             # # #

 

R-CALF USA (Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America) is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle industry. R-CALF USA represents thousands of U.S. cattle producers on trade and marketing issues. Members are located across 47 states and are primarily cow/calf operators, cattle backgrounders, and/or feedlot owners. R-CALF USA directors and committee chairs are extremely active unpaid volunteers. R-CALF USA has dozens of affiliate organizations and various main-street businesses are associate members. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com  or, call 406-252-2516.   

 

Oppose NAIS~~~Lone cattleman develops Web site

WilsonCountyNews.com 
March 31, 2009

As the controversy of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) continues to divide the livestock industry, one man is leading a campaign against the program by not only writing letters to congressmen, but also by starting up a Web site and contributing articles he has written.

Darol Dickinson, manager of the family-owned Dickinson Cattle Co. Inc., runs one of the 50 largest registered cattle ranches in the United States, numbering up to 1,600 registered cattle. The ranch is also involved in livestock marketing, retail meat sales, cattle feeding, and exporting to more than 20 countries.

As proposed, when and if implemented, the NAIS will allow state health agencies, in the event of a disease outbreak, to trace the movement of an animal back to the place of origin within 48 hours.

The issue of the accuracy and costs of recording each movement of an animal has been questioned and is a concern of many cattlemen, including Dickinson.

Dickinson brought up a January 2007 experience as one of the reasons why he is opposed to the NAIS program while being interviewed for this article.

He said in 2007, he was visited by a detective of the APHIS Investigative and Enforcement Services, not for a disease outbreak, but because of a clerical error. The error involved an interstate movement of one cow sold in January 2006, in which the veterinarian did not list one number on the certificate of veterinary inspection for interstate movement of animals.

Dickinson wrote about this incident in the article, “Chasing a Cow Over Five States,” detailing the happenings of what he experienced to warn others of the federal penalties the NAIS may lead to if the program should become mandatory.

At the present time, the NAIS is voluntary, except in four states where legislation has implemented a mandatory program to assist in the control of certain diseases.

“The fines and penalties for USDA are very nebulous. They have the ability to ‘stack’ their charges like no other enforcement agency. For instance, you transport a critter over state lines and the USDA licensed veterinarian fills out the health certificate incorrectly … you may be charged and fined for not knowing he did it wrong,” Dickinson said. “When they can’t make their case, they hold it in a file and threaten in a future date to bring it up again and attach it to another minor violation making a ‘stacked’ charge on one of their house rules.”

After Dickinson refused to plead no contest and pay $1,000 in fines, the case was dropped a year and a half later. Dickinson said the U.S. Department of Agriculture will keep the case on file and add it to the next violation “to create a really bad violation.” He said the vet was called before a hearing court in Oklahoma and was hammered verbally. He had failed to include one optional number on the certificate.

Dickinson also questions if the movement of animals can accurately be recorded by the databases, since the average steer in the United States now has eight owners during it’s lifetime, with the consumer being No. 8. With the animal identification program, six computer entries will be required, giving many opportunities for errors, and fines, he said.

Dickinson released an article in 2008 titled, “NAIS — the Fourth Component,” which he said is enforcement. Dickinson reviewed the fines that may be imposed if and when the animal identification program becomes mandatory, ranging from $1,000 to $50,000 and more, citing U.S. Code, Title 7, found on the Web site of the Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute.

“One could be fined in county court $1,000 for a 70-mile-per-hour speed violation through a school zone, yet $50,000 for crossing a state line with one number incorrect on a USDA- issued livestock health certificate — for a perfectly healthy child’s pony!” Dickinson wrote.

Dickinson wrote the enforcement article since he believes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is a “law-making branch of the federal government that could take a $10 parking violation and make it into a hanging offense. One fine from Investigative and Enforcement Services (IES division of APHIS) can devastate a family farm completely and it doesn’t have to involve any animal disease.”

“The APHIS/NAIS site changes like a baby diaper. It is a moving target and referred to as a ‘living’ document. They can add or remove at any time. It is not designed to easily understand. Undefined created words allow APHIS to interpret as they wish at a future date,” Dickinson said.

Dickinson’s article and others can be found on his Web site http://www.naisSTINKS.com, which contains articles, political cartoons, posters, and quotes in opposition to the NAIS. It is an “attempt to set the record straight from the twisted press releases USDA sends to media daily,” Dickinson said. He considers the site as “a self-defense site to preserve family livestock businesses.”

“I want to save the ranch I have worked to build for 42 years for my grandchildren and I don’t want it destroyed by the federales with unnecessary enforcements for a problem we don’t have,” he said.

At the present time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Web site states, “There are no Federal penalties or other ‘enforcement’ mechanisms associated with the NAIS.” Not unlike other government slight-of-speech promises, they want to change that to mandatory and the enforcements will be on the way. 

 

“I’m hopeful that we can bring people in and lay out on the table what are your concerns about a mandatory system,” said USDA Sec. Vilsack, a former Iowa governor. “Let’s work through them and see if we can get to a point where we can then fashion a mandatory system that would do the job and would work.”

 

According to Dickinson, “There’s only one problem with the Vilsack plan, that one pernicious word—MANDATORY.”

 

Reporting, editing; Doering, Gregorio, Headtel, Dickinson, Pat Kopecki and Wilson County News.

 

Sickened by the flawed information presented by the USDA

March 16, 2009

To The Honorable David Scott

Chairman, House Committee on Agriculture

Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry

1301 Longworth House Office Bldg.

Washington, D.C. 20515-6001

 

Wednesday I listened with attentiveness to the “Public Hearing” on NAIS. I respectfully was sickened by the flawed information presented by the USDA to members of the committee. I was equally nauseated by the choice of “briefers” USDA had chosen to inform members of the Senate and Congress about NAIS prior to the hearing. Please share these points with your associates who are being coerced to make a decision on NAIS that will adversely affect livestock producers from the smallest up to the largest operations for the rest of our lives.

 

1) NAIS proposes 48 hour trace back; it would not change food safety. Every human sickness from meat products is caused by incorrect processing, which are stamped and approved by USDA inspectors. Nothing before slaughter is detrimental to human health. The proposed NAIS ends before slaughter.

 

2) USDA presented NAIS as an important issue that must be dealt with promptly. That is not true. There is no urgency, no need, no rush and no value.

 

3) At this time the USA has the most disease free livestock in the world and the safest food. The system used by the once dedicated USDA has and will safely serve the nation. It is not out dated as you were falsely told. US private enterprise herd health is the professional example to the world.

 

4) As per written testimony presented to you by Dr. Thornsberry, 47 states do not have a recorded case of any reportable livestock disease at this time. This is the lowest disease of record since Washington Prayed at Valley Forge. The current disease issue is minuscule. Future unknown disease will be even less, contrary to what you were told.

 

5) The only reportable disease is in Michigan, Minnesota and Yellow Stone. All are a result of government wildlife spreading disease to domestic livestock. Nothing in NAIS forces the government to comply with NAIS. Until the states and the federal government deal with their own disease it is a scam to force expensive unnecessary compliance on the private sector.

 

6) The USDA has briefed your elected leaders with “flawed data.” You were told that 35% of the livestock property owners have voluntarily enrolled in NAIS. The USDA was not correct. They have reduced their own 2007 census numbers of farms by 2,500,000 farms to impress you to believe they are succeeding in enrollments. Check it yourself, or I can tell you who to call at NASS to get honest data. The real NAIS number is less than 10% enrollment. It has been the most expensive enrollment of private property in world history.

 

7) The reason NAIS property enrollment is zip, livestock people don’t trust USDA or the

government. We are scared of you. You have us scared to death with talk of mandatory NAIS!!

 

8) Our elected officials are surrounded by people who don’t understand the livestock business. There are 3,000,000 livestock producers in the US who can tell you why they have not signed up for NAIS. Only 2 were allowed to testify last Wednesday.

 

9) You have been told the US must comply with World Trade Treaties to export livestock. You have been told exporting is imperative for good cattle prices in the US. You have not been told that beef, like oil, must be imported to feed the nation. The US is a net beef import nation and has not for dozens of years produced enough beef to feed the nation. USDA has not told you the truth! Call NASS and get the true data. USDA should use correct data!

 

10) The one time cost of NAIS compliance as proposed, will be over $30 per animal for a herd of 50 animals. USDA has given you false costs per animal using amortization rates for hundreds of units which represents only the nation’s few largest producers.

 

11) Due to the low profit margin, high cost of farm land, increasing competition with government for farm labor and vicious property taxes, nearly 2000 ranches are going out of business per month and have for dozens of years.

 

12) NAIS, as proposed will take the total income from the average farm for livestock

production—take it all. USDA has given you flawed information as to the positive things of NAIS and not told you the negatives. Either they don’t know or don’t care that NAIS will devastate the economics of agriculture in the US.

 

13) Disease has been vilified by USDA to scare elected officials. All livestock producers deal with disease in many forms and know how to handle it without government assistance. We already successfully do this.

 

14) You have been told that Hoof and Mouth disease would devastate the nation’s beef business. That is flawed data. Hoof and Mouth does not affect people and does not destroy cattle. It is a skin disease and the meat from H & M positive cattle is consumable and would pass USDA meat inspection.

 

15) If disease is as serious as USDA alleges, why don’t they invest in vaccines for prevention, instead of a costly 48 hour trace back? Answer, USDA leaders don’t understand the livestock business. Never has an ear tag stopped any infection.

 

16) USDA has underestimated the magnitude of NAIS clerical cost in relation to value received. The US census provides numbers to indicate over 2.3 billion critters in the US would require NAIS compliance.

 

17) Reliable data indicates the average bovine in the normal course of commerce has 8 owners during their earthly intact existence. NAIS would require a computer entry for each owner movement or transfer. Within 3 years the US NAIS numbers would more than equal the census of the earth’s human population. This breadth of costs does not justify the value.

 

18) USDA has failed to brief elected leaders that all states currently have animal transport laws in place with stringent penalties. No animal can cross any state line without a USDA certified veterinarian certificate and visual inspection paid for by the animal owner. All interstate transit is documented now. The owner, state of entry and state of departure are required by USDA to receive originals of this certificate. NAIS would be redundant and add to already existing enforcements.

 

19) USDA has briefed law makers of their fear of commingling as a disease transmittal explosion. From the earliest history of the nation livestock commingling events like rodeos, horse races and state fairs have not caused a problem due to health inspection rules by certified USDA veterinarians. These enforcements are now in place that have served the nation perfectly well.

 

20) USDA briefings have disregarded the great commitment private enterprise has contributed by scientifically providing vaccinations and health medications to deal with disease. These vaccines are more available in the US than any country in the world, therefore enabling livestock owners to maintain herds in excellent health without government assistance.

 

21) USDA has failed to brief law makers that the US is blessed with the most professional veterinarians of any country. All livestock disease is promptly identified on a local personal basis. USDA requires licensed veterinarians to report all diseases immediately to state USDA authorities. It is overkill to add to this current working system.

 

21) USDA will enforce NAIS with barbaric IES tactics. The recent combative raids on farms with fines proposed up to $500,000 have livestock producers trembling. The USDA’s IES has no valid oversight and no limit for their draconian enforcement. Gestapo tactics is a nice word for IES vicious conduct.

 

22) A June 2008 independent poll by Western Horseman magazine recorded thousands of online votes with 93.3% of livestock producers opposed to NAIS. This is why it has cost millions for USDA to get volunteer enrollment. Livestock producers don’t want anything to do with NAIS.

 

23) Testimony to your committee from a person outside the US indicated the burden on producers had not caused people to go broke. Michigan, a NAIS mandatory state fines people $5000 for not enrolling property. Farmers are liquidating Michigan land and moving to non mandatory NAIS states. One farm family moved to Belize to escape USDA assault. Thousands of Michigan farms are for sale this minute. People do not know where to escape to!

 

24) USDA has presented flawed testimony with quasi concern for animal health, safe food and export. USDA is concerned only with federal funding, USDA budget expansion, and USDA salary increases.

 

25) A prominent Ag Journalist wrote that if NAIS becomes mandatory the main USDA budget item will be incarceration and prison construction to contain all the farmers who refuse NAIS surrender.

 

Please share this information with your voting associates. I am available to substantiate all of the above information. Please do not destroy us with mandatory NAIS.

 

Darol Dickinson, 35000 Muskrat, Barnesville, Ohio USA, 740 758 5050