The state of Washington is the first in the union to start “composting” dead human bodies as crop “fertilizer,” bringing to real life the fictitious scenario depicted in the famous dystopian film Soylent Green.
Bill 5001 will take effect on May 1, 2020, allowing for human corpses to undergo a process known as “liquid cremation,” whereby alkaline hydrolysis is used to turn rotting flesh and bones into an “organic fertilizer” sludge.
“I am very much in favor of the composting of human bodies!” declared Wes McMahan, a retired cardiovascular intensive-care nurse who recently testified in support of the bill.
“When I’m done with this body that served me very well for the past 64 years, do I want to poison it with formaldehyde and other embalming chemicals? No,” he added. “Burned? Not my first choice. But what about all the bacteria I’ve worked with so long in this body – do I want to give them a chance to do what they do naturally? I believe in doing things as naturally as possible.”
Katrina Spade, the founder and CEO of a company known as Recompose that aspires to be the first “natural organic reduction” funeral home in the United States, is also excited about the bill, which she says fulfills “a longtime hope” of hers to create “an urban, soil-based, ecologically friendly death-care option.” More
Thirty-three members of Congress and their immediate family members collected a total of nearly $16 million in federal farm subsidies between 1995 and 2020, according to updated data from EWG’s Farm Subsidy Database.
The total includes $1.3 million that went to 11 members from the Trump administration’s Market Facilitation Program, or MFP, launched in 2019 to help farmers hurt by the administration’s trade war with China.
(click on the link at the bottom to go to the full article and view this entire list)
No lawmakers received funds from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, created to help farmers through the Covid-19 pandemic. For the complete list of subsidy and MFP recipients, click here.
The data are drawn from Department of Agriculture subsidy records, MFP records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and additional information from the members’ public financial disclosures, and are through June 30, 2020. Some members’ disclosures say how much of their family’s farm operation they control, but in other cases that information was not available.
The biggest windfall from taxpayers’ pocketbooks went to the family of Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), who received nearly $5.5 million in commodity subsidies for rice and wheat. LaMalfa holds a third of the family’s farm partnership, making his share almost $1.8 million.
Rep. LaMalfa is one of 13 congressional recipients who sit on the House or Senate Agriculture Committee, which determine the amount and distribution of farm subsidies. The LaMalfa farm partnership also received more than $54,000 in MFP payments.
The second-largest congressional recipient was the family of Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Her father, mother, brother and sister-in-law received more than $3.4 million in subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat and oats, and her brother and sister-in-law received a total of $750,000 in MFP payments.
According to her publicly disclosed financial records, Sen. Loeffler has financial interests in her family’s farm operation, and she has received thousands of dollars in income in land rental from the farm. The records do not say what share of the farm she holds.
Join Lawrence Lucas & Marti Oakley for the year end review of the dismal activities taking place at the USDA. We will be discussing the impact of the Elizabeth Warren Plan and the May 2020 letters to the Biden campaign demanding they fix the USDA. Also, we will cover the Biden plan related to USDA and the call for change by so many.
The Justice for Black Farmers Act of 2020 was introduced November 30th and differs greatly from the Biden proposal.
Speaking out when it is not popular or in fashion takes great courage yet the rural and urban farmers do just that.
Our guests will include:
Michael Stoval, Black Farmer
Julian Hishaw, Attorney & Author
Lloyd Wright, Black Farmer & Advocate
Wayne Hinson, Researcher & Producer of the Black Farmer Documentary
This is in memory of our friend, Steve Hixon, who was one of the last “seed cleaners” in the United States.
Steve was a real American hero. He stood up against Monsanto for many years. He spoke out. He informed the public about the ways that agricultural technology companies had appropriated public resources and filed patents from seed germ plasm from (taxpayer funded) public universities.
Seed cleaners played an important role in helping farmers save their seeds for planting the next year. They have equipment that sifts the plant materials and “clean” it so that the seeds are separated out and can be given back to farmers to use the next season (at less cost than Monsanto’s seeds). Steve designed and built several versions of the seed cleaning machine he used. Seed cleaners have been nearly wiped out since the introduction of GMO proprietary seeds.
The Monsanto Hearings were public tribunals where people presented testimony regarding the harmful impact that the Monsanto corporation has had on America’s food, farms, communities, and ecosystems.
You can see Steve speak at the Monsanto hearingsHERE.
Steve Hixon tried to protect American farmers and our food. More than that, Steve was a great friend, one of the “good guys” and an American hero. He will be missed.
Stay informed about what is hot in Washington and the states about natural health
It’s official: the “mandatory” GMO labeling rule will obscure more than it makes transparent. Action Alert!
The USDA has released its final GMO labeling rule, and it’s not good. As we feared when the agency released its proposal earlier this year, the so-called GMO labeling law will apply only to a narrow set of foods. Congress and the USDA have offered a number of loopholes and exemptions to food companies, undermining any semblance of a consumer’s right to know. It’s as if the USDA asked the food industry to write the rule themselves.
The problems start right at the foundation. The agency has decided to use the term “bioengineered”—a term many Americans may not be familiar with—rather than GMO. When the proposal was released, we pointed out that this is straight out of an Orwellian playbook. Many Americans know the term “GMO” and can connect it to the labeling debate—so the government decides to use a different term that sounds more innocuous. If the government was actually concerned with communicating information clearly to consumers, they would simply use the term “GMO” and not other terminology with which Americans may not be familiar.
The problems continue with the definition of “bioengineered.” The final rule defines bioengineered as a food that 1) contains genetic material that has been modified through in vitro recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) techniques and 2) for which the modification could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature”—essentially, combining DNA from two different sources, usually two different organisms.
THE BATTLE LINES HAVE BEEN DRAWN AS BLACK FARMERS CHALLENGE THE STATE OF GEORGIA AND SECRETARY OF STATE BRIAN KEMP OVER VOTING RIGHTS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN PREDOMINANTLY BLACK COUNTIES AND PRECINCTS IN GEORGIA.
August 21, 2018
Black Farmers from south Georgia filed suit against the State of Georgia and Secretary of State Brian Kemp alleging violations of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, among several claims. The Black Farmers assert that the State of Georgia and The Secretary of State have failed to enforce federal laws and maintain uniformity of legal issues among all the counties that make up the state. In particular, the state and secretary have been alleged, to what amounts to putting on a charade, political gerrymandering. It is without question that the state and secretary knows counties must have preclearance from the Department of Justice or the United States District Court in Washington, D.C. before the counties can shut down polling locations or precincts in predominantly African American counties or precincts.
However, this will be a showdown of epic proportions. Also named in the petition are The National Republican Committee, The National Democratic Committee, The NAACP, The ACLU, The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, The State Republican Committee and The State Democratic Committee. The Black Farmers are united and have been fighting the USDA for years on similar civil rights issues. An interesting correlation has been drawn by the farmers and the history of questionable stances on civil rights issues by now Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue as former governor of the State of Georgia and his continued stance of denying Black Farmers the right to be heard at the administrative level.
IN RE: DEADLINE GEORGIA- DEMOCRATIC GUBERNATORIAL NOMINEE STACEY ABRAMS V. THE GOP- HOW THE USDA’S STORIED HISTORY OF DISCRIMINATION COULD BE THE DECIDING FACTOR ON WHO BECOMES THE NEXT GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA.
JUNE 25, 2018
There is no doubt that the Republican Party is aware of the historical significance of the nomination of Stacey Abrams and her bid to become the first Black Female Governor in the United States. With this nomination, the eyes of the country will be hanging on her every word in regards to policy and civil rights. The Democrats are amassing a war chest for her bid to become the next governor of Georgia, but the Republicans will not be outdone. However, the one factor, that could be the deciding factor, is how Stacey Abrams tackles the issues of Socially Disadvantaged Farmers.
Socially Disadvantaged Farmers are legally defined as a protected class, to include Black Farmers, Hispanic Farmers, Indian Farmers and White Women. This protected class will be the deciding factor on if Georgia remains a red state or will it be the keystone of the crown jewel that the Dems. are hoping for in November. It is without controversy that former Georgia Governor and current Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, inherited an absolute mess at the USDA, an agency that is truly out of control and in desperate need of reform. More
Years of research have revealed that the purpose of ongoing international geoengineering operations is to control the weather to create droughts and artificial scarcity of water and food (planned “problem”). From the resulting global crisis, chaos and fear (planned “reaction”) of people not having adequate water and food due to “climate change,” a totalitarian world government (planned “solution”) will be perpetrated under the veil of “sustainable development” (See United Nations’ Agenda 21 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development). Speaking of year 2030:
According to UN-endorsed projections, global demand for fresh water will exceed supply by 40% in 2030, thanks to a combination of climate change, human action and population growth.
The secondary purpose of chemtrails is to make the population sick by causing individuals to ingesting toxins such as aluminum and possibly viruses.
The Geoengineered Cape Town Drought
The Geoengineered Cape Town Drought is a test-run, a preview of what the rest of us can expect in the coming years.
Day Zero is looming for Cape Town. According to the latest estimates May 11th is when the city’s water supply will be turned off, leaving four million residents to line up for water rations at one of 200 points across the city.
Cape Town is in the middle of an unprecedented drought and rainfall has been far below expected levels for the past three years. Residents are being asked to limit use to 50 liters a day (13.2 gallons), which is less than a third of the average daily water use in Britain.
Our air is acrid and dry and my crops have failed. My animals are on their last legs. We are being forced to take out loans via the Landbank, thus enslaving us and also forcing us to buy GMO seeds. The North West has been declared a Disaster Area.
Without any mention of geoengineering, National Geographic states that “climate change” may have exacerbated Cape Town’s drought and warns that much of the world is at risk of a similar situation. Mexico City, Melbourne, Jakarta, Sao Paulo, and California are listed as potential water shortage victims of “climate change.”
The DC District Court, Judge Paul Friedman, has devised a plan with the Former Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, to defraud Taxpayers out of $400,000,000. The USDA entered into a deal to settle claims against Socially Disadvantaged Farmers. However, the Agency, USDOJ and Judge Friedman have breached the contract agreement. In short, there is $400,000,000 that is left from Congressional Funds that was appropriated for this settlement. More
**Note: The article from “YES” magazine, referred to in this article, was dated July 6, 2016. Just two days before farmers from 18 states protested the USDA and its discriminatory practices in front of the Supreme Court. The article was a carefully timed and crafted propaganda piece. All information, data and statistics were obviously provided by USDA and simply compiled to make it appear that legitimate research had been done, when obviously, it had not. As for the protest, I was left wondering just where all these civil rights icons were? What? No Jesse Jackson? No Al Sharpton? Where the hell was the NAACP?? (BIG)Blacks in Government? No?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometimes while I am researching one thing, I come across valuable information on another topic. This was the case recently when an article in Yes! Magazine caught my eye. Since last year I have been doing Whistleblowers! broadcasts which included black farmers discriminated against by USDA and they have a very different story to tell than the one relayed in YES!. And, they have the documents to back up what they have to say about their treatment at the hands of USDA..
These farmers never asked for special treatment. They are demanding only to be treated with as much respect, and with access to the same programs as others are.
The title “For Decades, the USDA Was Black Farmers’ Worst Enemy. Here’s How It Became an Ally” nearly made my head explode. I wouldn’t swear to it, but I think at that point lightening sparked here in my office. I read the article with interest, but realized it was a propaganda piece, carefully constructed with information most likely provided directly by interests at the USDA. Obviously no actual research had been done. Had it been done, the article would have read quite differently and would have linked to relevant documents and resources. There were none. More
On July 8, 2016, thousands of Americans will gather in front of The Supreme Court in Washington D.C.-the faces will be of black, white, red and brown that reflect the Black Farmers, White Women Farmers, Native American Farmers and Hispanic Farmers alike.
This day will mark the day when Eddie Wise and Dorothy Wise will take a stand for justice.
Oh, but this is not just a few disgruntled people looking to insight a riot; these are two Americans that are America. One a retired Green Beret and the other a retired Howard University grant manager together they are petitioning the nation’s highest court to overturn The Dred Scott Decision.
Dred Scott was a slave that petitioned the Supreme Court for his rights in 1857. Alarming enough, the nation’s highest court opined that a black person does not have the capacity to sue in federal courts, basically regulating his or her mere existence to a regular article of merchandise similar to a pig or cow in a stockyard for auction. We all know the story of Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman, one revolted on a plantation in Virginia, and the other led between 300 and 500 slaves to freedom.
Nat Turner (October 2, 1800 – November 11, 1831) was an enslaved African American who led a rebellion of slaves and free blacks in Southampton County, Virginia on August 21, 1831, that resulted in the deaths of 55 to 65 white people. In retaliation, enraged white militias and mobs killed more than 200 black people in the course of putting down the rebellion.
Now fast forward to 2016, Eddie Wise is “The New Nat Turner.” Instead of bloodshed, Eddie Wise will use the “Olive Branches” to denounce the Doctrine of Willie Lynch, a doctrine still employed by the USDA and the Department of Justice against Socially Disadvantaged Farmers.
The USDA and the Department of Justice has been denying the constitutional rights of Socially Disadvantaged Farmers by denying them the right to a formal hearing on the merits while simultaneously illegally foreclosing on farms that Congress placed a moratorium on. If this was not enough, the disciples of Willie Lynch have been using the treasury to offset the social security and any qualified federal monies payable to affected farmers and not giving a day for a hearing to discuss these unlawful tactics. The retired Green Beret has searched deep into his 73 year old heart to bring the best fight of his life and questions the Supreme Court must answer.
Not to be forgotten, Harriet Tubman has the resolve that could move mountains or reduce them to mole hills. Dorothy Wise is “The New Harriet Tubman,” together with her husband, this retired grant manager will help lead Black Farmers to freedom. With the support of The American Agriculturalist Association, Black Farmers have been informed on how to get the justice that has long eluded them. Black Farmers have responded by filing over 1,000 motions of declaratory judgments in the District Court of The District of Columbia. Ironically, the judicial system that has long and unlawfully oppressed the people of color are preparing for this uprising. The District Judge has failed to docket these motions to this date.
On July 8, 2016 at 8am, answer the call, let’s rewrite the final chapter of the Willie Lynch Doctrine and demand justice from the nation’s highest court. This time the “Wise Tale” will do the writing of the history and your voice is required to be a story in history.
Memo: Many of you joined together to oppose the USDA’s NAIS ploy. Prior to our USA battle with the federales the Australians were fighting the same battle, but they lost the war bigger and faster than the US sisters. The Australian government has always been the “view into the future” for us. Their NAIS is NLIS – National Livestock Identification Scheme. With hearings and political battles USDA realized that over 90% of livestock owners refused to sign up for NAIS so they threw up their hands and said — we give up — NAIS is dead, ended, over. Yet, as most expected, it raised an ugly finger in the air and now we have ADT. ADT is following the same path as NAIS and NLIS, but slower, one state at a time. Texas, of all states is leading the charge in animal ID compliances, testing, and enforcements. The fight is still on. Our unfriendly-bureaucratic-predator government is adding the control rules one at a time, one state at a time — hammering away toward NAIS. It now is still federal, working under the radar as quasi state rules.
Notice the Australian cattlemen’s plea (article below) to be free again from the ignorance of NLIS. Once in the government’s claws, seldom do they release the prey. Darol
NOTE: NAIS:.. National Animal IdentificationSystem…U.S.
Banks to use NLIS to spy on cattle producers – ABA calls on Minister Joyce to intervene.
Meat and Livestock Australia has admitted it has commissioned consultants to develop a system that allows financial institutions to automatically access producers’, lot feeders’ and processors’ NLIS accounts to monitor livestock transactions.
The admission was made to former Australian Beef Association Director, John Carter.
It would seem MLA/NLIS is seeking to develop a user-pay system that automatically notifies a financial institution when stock are moved onto or off an NLIS Account/PIC – for purchase, sale or slaughter. Prospective users of the service are banks, stock and station agencies and any other party, such as an investor, prepared to pay for the service.
“This is an outrageous abuse of trust by MLA,” Australian Beef Association Director Brad Bellinger said.
“NLIS was imposed on cattle producers on the understanding it was needed for market access and bio-security. More
The world’s leading Scientists, Physicians, Attorneys, Politicians and Environmental Activists expose the corruption and dangers surrounding the widespread use of Genetically Modified Organisms in the new feature length documentary, “Seeds of Death: Unveiling the Lies of GMOs”.
Published on May 23, 2013
Senior Executive Producer / Writer / Director: Gary Null PhD
Executive Producer/Writer/Co-Director: Richard Polonetsky
Producers: Paola Bossola, Richard Gale, James Spruill, Patrick Thompson, Valerie Van Cleve
Editors: James Spruill, Patrick Thompson, Richie Williamson, Nick Palm
Music: Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com), Armando Guarnera
Graphics: Jay Graygor
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved ___________________________________________________________________ You’ve gotta love a gal who’d enter into a conference call with Directors of the National Parks Conservation Association by saying "What we need to be concerned about is that we don't become the icing on a turd” and this observation alone would make Sally Jewell seem uniquely qualified to revamp the Bureau of Land Management’s disastrous Wild Horse & Burro Program.Sally Jewell is President Obama’s new choice to replace Ken Salazar as the Secretary of the Department of Interior.
While it was amusing when Secretary Salazar recently threatened to punch out a journalist and then had to apologize after a lot of bad publicity, it was the only thing to smile about during his tenure at the top of the heap of BLM’s mismanaged and unethical Wild Horse & Burro Program. Not to mention the whole BP disaster that happened under Salazar’s watch.
Since Sally Jewell worked in banking for many years, maybe she’ll be able to help the American public get an accurate count of the wild horses on their federally protected Herd Management Areas.
While wild horse advocates hope that the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior will do something to stop the BLM’s eradication of wild horses, just because we see photos of Jewell paddling a kayak or read that she likes to hike, we shouldn’t automatically assume that she’ll want to help save the wild horses.
The extractive industries that are leasing public lands for as little as $2 an acre have their hopes up, too (and they have a lot of money and lobbyists). “Tim Wigley, president of the Western Energy Alliance, said he hoped that time in the fields would translate into expanded oil and gas drilling on federal lands. ‘We hope to see a better balance of productive development on non-park, non-wilderness public lands that enhances the wealth of America and creates jobs while protecting the environment.”
No one would have believed that the Russian government would have intentionally starved an estimated 10 million Ukrainian people to death, but the fact is …from 1932-33 they did. During the Holodomor people became so ravenous, some inevitably turned to cannibalism. The Russian government accomplished this mass starvation by seizing control of all food production and forcing everyone to work for collective farms. Farmers and ranchers were forced to give up their land and livestock to the state and were not allowed to consume any of the food they produced; all of it was held in government owned silo’s and terminals. All of it sold for export to other countries and the money used to finance wars.
This was genocide on a massive scale. It was a genocide intended to take land and farming away from the people and convert it all to state (corporate) control. It was estimated that 80% of the Ukrainian population were farmers. As the millions died, other ethnic groups were brought in to replace the Ukrainians. And it all began with the Russian government depleting grain reserves and food supplies and then claiming ownership and control of agriculture.
While our own government has not yet begun withholding food from the general population, the transferring of other ethnic groups into our communities through the promotion of illegal immigration across our southern border and from the dumping of massive numbers of alleged refugees from many mid-eastern countries into communities where the cultural, religious and ethnic back grounds quickly divide the population, is happening. This is an intentional disruption of these communities not for the purpose of diversity, but rather, to end the sense of cultural and national unity. This is nation busting. Its purpose is to destroy any sense of community or national identity and loyalty.
“the ultimate opportunity for ranchers-selling their public land grazing permits on Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management administered public lands with the caveat that their allotments will never again be used for livestock grazing.”
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While this video is a bit hard to hear, it is excellent! Thanks Erin and Louise.
Note the gun toting wardens at the front of the public meeting in the video–these guys are afraid of old gals and guys coming to public meetings in serene rural Redding, CA.
In the YouTube video, the balding (like me) gentleman at the right-corner of the table is Gary Cadd who was on the National Marine Fisheries Service-dominated North Pacific Fishery Management Council that meets in Alaska. He is a goldmine of information on the corruption of bycatch of coho and Chinook salmon in the Gulf of Alaska affecting our fish populations in California and Oregon.
He spoke with many “observers” on the airplane in trips he took to Council meetings between Anchorage and Seattle, and learned first-hand that the NMFS-employed lay-public observers are kept below deck on ocean trawlers so the bycatch (coho and Chinook salmon) are pitched overboard before the observers are allowed above deck to see the fish being retrieved out of the trawl nets–the Chinook contain coded wire tags needed to document the origin of the fish (see below) and the coho have marks allowing them to be associated with their hatchery origin.
Fishing would have to stop if the excessive bycatch limits were observed on deck. The observers during debriefing, before being swept back to Seattle, are discouraged in their reporting of illegal activity of Chinook and coho salmon bycatch–I have a friend and former student who has personally experienced this corruption in debriefing by NMFS or other government agents. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2011 All rights reserved
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New Council or not, it would be a relatively simple matter to halt the coming terrorism by corporate federal agencies against agricultural property owners. Our governors would have only to refuse any contracting with these federal corporations which would deny them access inside the geographical boundaries of the states.
A full scale attack by EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to take control of all water from any source whatsoever is under way. What these agencies are attempting is an end run around water and land rights. These agencies are constructing regulations and fictional jurisdictional control. We cannot depend on our courts or the federal government to reign in and control these agencies as they are both privately owned corporations that masquerade as public service agencies. While congress may express their concerns about the police state actions being constructed, they have no authority or power to dictate what these agencies do under private contract law. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
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In order for this new, soon to be created agency to be able to track and control who produces food of any kind, either this new government corporation or HSD, will pull in the twelve agencies now supposedly overseeing food production. Now it all makes sense and the pieces all begin falling into place.
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While many individuals and groups have waged a constant and frustrating battle against the coming total seizure and control of food production as practiced by family farmers and ranchers historically, several questions have gone unanswered. The biggest of all of course is, why?
Common sense, combined with critical and analytical thinking, cannot produce a rational answer for the onslaught of legislation, expansion of government agencies known for their incompetence and waste, and the complicity of state governments.
Farmers like genetically modified (GM) crops because they can plant them, spray them with herbicide and then there is very little maintenance until harvest. Farmers who plant Monsanto’s GM crops probably don’t realize what they bargain for when they sign the Monsanto Technology Stewardship Agreement contract. One farmer reportedly ‘went crazy’ when he discovered the scope of the contract because it transfers ALL liability to the farmer or grower.
Here is the paragraph that defines Monsanto’s limit of liability that shifts it to the farmer:
“GROWER’S EXCLUSIVE LIMITED REMEDY: THE EXCLUSIVE REMEDY OF THE GROWER AND THE LIMIT OF THE LIABILITY OF MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER FOR ANY AND ALL LOSSES, INJURY OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE USE OR HANDLING OF SEED (INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED IN CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, PRODUCT LIABILITY, STRICT LIABILITY, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) SHALL BE THE PRICE PAID BY THE GROWER FOR THE QUANTITY OF THE SEED INVOLVED OR, AT THE ELECTION OF MONSANTO OR THE SEED SELLER, THE REPLACEMENT OF THE SEED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MONSANTO OR ANY SELLER BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES.” More
___________________________________________________ “We know how we got into this situation; we forgot to stay alert and hew to the values of our predecessors. Now we must ask how these trends can be reversed. How can we rid the Unites States of globalism?”
Michael Shaw
1-12-11
America was founded on certain principles: those of individual liberty and responsibility, a small federal government, and sovereign states that would protect their citizens’ unalienable rights. Over time many Americans got so involved in living their seemingly free lives they neglected oversight of what was happening to their country. Those who loved American ideals lived them and those who did not were busy working both from within and without the government to eradicate these principles from the American consciousness.
This dumbing down of America was planned and it took place over many decades as Charlotte Iserbyt explains in her Deliberate Dumbing Down of America expose. Controlled media and public education infused the populace with attitudes, values and beliefs that enabled the power thrust of globalists to grow. Thus the greatest political experiment in the history of the world has morphed into what we now call “globalism”. More
Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
Originally published in August 2009
Greetings:
Consider this a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to all members of the Senate, all members of the House, and to President Obama. I am sure you are fully aware of the intent and implications of MOUs, as each of you, in one way or another, uses them to establish the outlining of agreements between yourselves, collectively or individually, concerning the agreements you have made with individuals acting as state’s representatives or agencies; generally to avoid Constitutional prohibitions on your intended actions and in avoidance of the Constitution. I am using it in quite another fashion as you will see in the following text. More
Paul Griepentrog (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
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This is a futuristic, fictional piece that seeks to bring forward a reality that could occur under the provisions of S 510, and the potential downside of the rules yet to be written. The citing’s either exist or have existed in previous forms of the bill. Only you have the power to change it, time to go down the rabbit hole Alice.
Marti Oakley w/ Paul Griepentrog (c)copyright 2010
A glimpse into the near future!_______________________________________________________
Welcome to nationalized, government owned and operated farming and ranching!
This is the new government run farming and ranching. Everything will have to be done to meet criteria yet to be determined. The new dictatorial agency headed by the “secretary”, will now be able to designate high risk foods,(based solely on a reasonable belief, even if unfounded) and the subsequent products of these yet to be written (or admitted) criteria, as grounds to require registration of your farm or ranch as a facility. More
The farming system developed shall respect ecological limits, not lead to climate changing emissions, depletion of the soil and prevent the exhaustion of water supplies. Such systems naturally forbid the use of genetically modified crops or trees.
Executive summary
Access to land provides food and livelihoods for billions of people around the world, but as the availability of fertile land and water is threatened by climate change, mismanagement and consumption patterns, demand for land has been increasing.
“Land grabs” – where land traditionally used by local communities is leased or sold to outside investors (from corporations and from governments) are becoming increasingly common across Africa. Whilst many of these deals are for food cultivation, there is a growing interest in growing crops for fuel – agrofuels – particularly to supply the growing EU market.
These land grabs have been taking place against a backdrop of rising food prices which led to the food crisis in 2008. There were food riots in some developing countries and in Haiti and Madagascar the governments were overthrown as a result of the crisis. Crops being used for agrofuels was a major factor in the rising price of food. More
[Excerpt] As everyone scrambles for a solution to the crises in the nation’s economy, Wes Jackson suggests we look to nature’s economy for some of the answers. With everyone focused on a stimulus package in the short term, he counsels that we pay more attention to the soil over the long haul.
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“We live off of what comes out of the soil, not what’s in the bank,” said Jackson, president of The Land Institute. “If we squander the ecological capital of the soil, the capital on paper won’t much matter.”
Jackson doesn’t minimize the threat of the current financial problems but argues that the new administration should consider a “50-year farm bill,” which he and the writer/farmer Wendell Berry proposed in a New York Times op/ed earlier this month.
Central to such a bill would be soil. A plan for sustainable agriculture capable of producing healthful food has to come to solve the twin problems of soil erosion and contamination, said Jackson, who co-founded the research center in 1976 after leaving his job as an environmental studies professor at California State University-Sacramento.
Jackson believes that a key part of the solution is in approaches to growing food that mimic nature instead of trying to subdue it. While Jackson and his fellow researchers at The Land Institute continue their work on Natural Systems Agriculture, he also ponders how to turn the possibilities into policy. He spoke with me from his office in Salina, Kansas.
Robert Jensen: This is a short-term culture, and federal policies typically are aimed at short-term results. Why call for a farm bill that looks so far ahead, especially in tough economic times?
Wes Jackson: For the past 50 or 60 years, we have followed industrialized agricultural policies that have increased the rate of destruction of productive farmland. For those 50 or 60 years, we have let ourselves believe the absurd notion that as long as we have money we will have food. If we continue our offenses against the land and the labor by which we are fed, the food supply will decline, and we will have a problem far more complex than the failure of our paper economy. Read full article
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson is the power behind the throne of Governor James Doyle. Together they rule the most corrupt state government in the union.
Wisconsin is alleged to have the most corrupt court system, most unethical attorney’s of any state in the Union.
“The general public must recognize that only after the demystification of U.S. agriculture will family farmers, labor, and consumers see beyond corporate agribusiness’ manipulations to the point where they will recognize that both their mutual interests and the future of agriculture can be best decided through a system that not only practices political democracy, but economic democracy as well.” – Ingolf Voegler
Update: On page 7, there is the whole list of “best practices” On the surface this would seem to be about giving grant money, and they are focusing on “small and medium size farms and processors. (Why don’t they train and educate the BIG PRODUCERS causing the food safety problems?!)
Anyhow, at a glance, I’m bothered that most definitions will be “determined by the Secretary” or “meaning given by the Secretary”
I’m really bothered that the “Agricultural Producer Group” (and what is their purpose – are they a board of some sort to advise?) seems like it might consist of BigAg since the wording is so vague. Dee West
Happy Holidays!
Another special gift from congress just in time for the 2009 Holiday Season!
S.2758: “The National Food Safety Training, Education, Extension, Outreach and Technical Assistance Program Act.”
S2758 introduced by Debbie Stabenow (MI) with co-sponsors:
Bingaman (NM),
Boxer (CA),
Gillibrand (NY),
Leahy (VT),
Merkley (OR),
Sanders (VT).
I have no doubt this bill is nothing less than the consolidation of S510 and HR 2749 and if presented as such, it may not be necessary to refer it back to any committee for further debate. I suspect it will simply be introduced in the middle of the night and passed with tons of added pork barrel spending and arm twisting.
At this point I suppose we should be encouraging all of you to write or call your senators and representatives, but as we don’t have millions of dollars to contribute to political campaigns, nor are we in a position to have six highly paid lobbyists for each and every elected official we already know they have no time for us. None of them will answer your calls, respond to your letters or in any way give any time or attention to your concerns. They’ll do whatever they are paid to do and then collect a nice big fat salary from us on top of that.
THIS IS YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK; THIS IS YOUR GOVERNMENT WORKING AGAINST YOU! More
With all the talk about “food security,” and distorted media statements like “South Korea leases half of Madagascar’s land,”1 it may not be evident to a lot of people that the lead actors in today’s global land grab for overseas food production are not countries or governments but corporations. So much attention has been focused on the involvement of states, like Saudi Arabia, China or South Korea. But the reality is that while governments are facilitating the deals, private companies are the ones getting control of the land. And their interests are simply not the same as those of governments. More
Scripts for NAIS state directors have been prepared with Delphi anti-groupthink interrogation techniques. Neil Hammerschmidtz, facilitator Larry Miller, change agent Jeri Dick and John Weimer at USDA have perfected these deceptive, contradictory and extreme methods to high pressure sell the flawed thought of NAIS.
President Eisenhower said, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.” Born in Abilene, Kansas, an area known for corn and wheat production, was the authoritative background of this presidential quote. Oh, for a quote today with accuracy and experience to back it up! Quotes by elected leaders today contain larger words, eloquence and surety, yet completely lacking integrity.
The National Animal Identification System (NAIS), proposed by profit motive industries, the World Trade Organization and fund-hungry USDA branches are riddled with pabulum substance quotes. Different from the factual Eisenhower, but similar in that quotes are coming from high up leadership with degrees as long as a wagon tongue; today’s honesty is sickly void. As highly paid government employees make poorly thought-out quotes, their numbers often reflect the serious need of a $3 Chinese calculator.
A Time To Be Serious
With up to 2000 U.S. ranchers going belly up per month, grandiose quotes of great profit from beef exports quickly perk the ear of hard working livestock people. Even though they seldom check the numbers, USDA leaders can tease a rancher off a cliff with a grandiose profit theory.
In a recent Beef Magazine article called “Put up or shut up” the author quoted, “If we do nothing and we lose market access……the losses would amount to $18.25/head if we do not adopt NAIS and we lose 25% of export market share.”
Only Listen to Exact Data
What is market share? Last year, 2008, the USA exported beef, live and processed, a total value of $2,876,906,000. The same year the USA imported beef, live and processed, paying exactly $4,764,392,000. In simple terms, this means the US doesn’t produce enough beef to feed the nation and nearly two billion dollars worth of beef must be imported. Annually this data changes very little.
If export sales are reduced there will not be a need to import as much product. If export sales are increased there will be a need to import that much more to feed the nation. Therefore, all the scuttlebutt about increasing exports to help ranchers be more profitable is no more than Botox verbiage.
The $18.25/head loss without NAIS on all 97,000,000 U.S. cattle equals $1,770,250.000. Wow, that causes most of the whole export income to go away. Perhaps the $18.25 figure was slightly exaggerated – like a 93% exaggeration! Today, not a single country requires animal tracing to purchase USA beef.
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.
Water is necessary for sustaining life as well as growing food, and should not be something that we are forced to pay for or go without. S 787, introduced by Senator Russ Feingold, attempts to make all waters that fall from the sky onto our land property of the Federal Government. This is unnacceptable.
Let me put it another, more direct way. If water falls out of the sky and into a pool of water on my property, I’ll be damned if I am going to pay the Feds, Corp USA, one red cent to drink it. Do you hear that Senator Feingold? You can take your S 787 and shove it! READ MORE…
Living within twenty miles of (D) Colin Peterson’s home office, and living in the middle of dairy herds and cornfields, I find it startling to believe anyone from the great State of Minnesota would not only be pushing the NAIS (National Animal Identification System) but was actually the sponsor of one of the first bills in 2005 attempting to implement this devastating encumbrance of farming and ranch operations.
Known as the ‘‘National Farm Animal Identification and Records Act,’’ this bill would have required the establishment of an electronic nationwide livestock identification system within 90 days of enactment.
“The livestock identification system shall be capable of tracing, within 48 hours, livestock from birth to slaughter. The bill also prevents the unauthorized release of information collected under the system and promotes an objective review of U.S. Department of Agriculture responses to livestock disease outbreaks.”
H.R. 1254, introduced March 10, 2005 never became law.
Don’t think that stopped Peterson! He attempted to insert NAIS mandates and funding into the 2008 Farm Bill and is currently working to make NAIS mandatory even as the backlash from farmers and ranchers and the public at large has continued to grow. As the actual conditions and enforcements of NAIS are exposed, not to mention the incredible costs associated with it while US food producers labor under economic instability, Peterson continues to push for the industrialization of farming and ranching, apparently believing his own rhetoric about how this invasive and destructive system is somehow going to make the food supply safe from unknown or possible threats that were eliminated generations ago, or don’t really exist.
The recent activities of both the USDA and FDA would indicate surveillance and raids on independent farms and ranches which are neither objective nor in the interest of protecting the public, have exposed the fallacy of concerns about disease.And no one has bothered to even speak about who or what is going to protect US farmers and ranchers from the Gestapo tactics of these agencies, both of which are grossly corrupted and neither of which can function efficiently enough to fulfill their stated primary missions.
As Peterson knows all too well, NAIS is NOT about food safety or tracking disease in herds. It is simply a tool designed to make independent ranching and farming so cost prohibitive, so bogged down with oppressive and restrictive regulations, it will drive family farms out of business and prevent future generations of farmers and ranchers from getting into the business.
Representative Peterson never mentions the sweeping provisions in NAIS that work to protect industrialized corporate producers from bearing anything but marginal costs associated with NAIS, and provide numerous loopholes allowing them to escape the most invasive and controlling aspects of this insidious program.
In all of the travels Rep. Peterson has done, I suppose at state expense, he seldom if ever mentions the data collection of current personal and identifiable information being compiled by the federal and state governments. He speaks about Premises ID as if it is some innocuous little nuisance, but never mentions that all of the premises information is carefully collected, catalogued and stored. But don’t think you can even use a FOIA request to find out just what and how much information the government has assembled on your operation. You can’t. And here’s why:
All of the databases containing all the information collected about you, your farm or ranch, the animals you have, your exact GPS location, have been moved to Canada and stored in the Oracle database program. The server for Oracle is located in San Antonio Texas, I suppose to mislead people into thinking their records are stored here in the US also.
Off American soil and in the hands of another government, the information gathered about you is now accessible by bio-pirates, foreign entities and anyone who cares to pay to know, who need this info to decide how most efficiently to drive you out of business; So much for the unauthorized release of information.
Although Peterson’s website wisely makes absolutely no mention of his NAIS promotion or advocacy, (unless he changes it today in the next five minutes) it appears Peterson has been an ambassador very busy traveling and speaking and trying to convince farmers and ranchers that NAIS is a good deal. It isn’t; and Peterson’s gut tells him this.
Known as the “invisible man” around these parts, Peterson is never available, seldom locatable and when he does make those rare public appearances it is with shills planted in the audience complete with planted questions and canned answers.
This just begs the question, “Who is Colin Peterson really representing?”
To be sure, I wouldn’t know. What I do know along with numerous farmers, ranchers and consumers here in Minnesota, it sure isn’t us.
“It is important to note that no animal identification program will prevent an introduction of animal disease, ensure safe food or prevent a recall.” – SCOTT CHARBO, Chief Information Officer at USDA March 6, 2004
In the final moves of a decades-long plan to monopolize food, Monsanto and the other big International Ag Corporations have introduced four supposed food-safety bills in the House and Senate. The USDA has a final comment period in the Federal Register on a regulation that requires all farms to carry a “Premises ID.” It magically becomes part of the deed, and removes the farmer’s Constitutional property rights. Go to Butner Blogspot to see the bills and comment to your congressman.
Independent farmers still control about 20% of the market, and Big-Ag wants that 20%—especially with organic foods and the local food movement threatening market share. The Death of Farming: a Recent History [Butner blogspot] gives a chronological picture of the corporate take over of the worlds farms and subversion of government safety measures. The attack on our food system is not just here in the USA but worldwide. It is on several fronts: from treaties, patenting of seeds and animals, to World Bank loans to nations. Those loans have strings attached that remove farm support systems and mandate industrial-export agriculture. The worst part of these attacks is a worldwide change in food inspection methods, taking control away from government agencies and giving it to the very corporations being inspected.
The new food inspection methods derive from a system called HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) which was developed by Pillsbury in the 1960’s. It was published as an International Guideline by. the Codex Alimentarius in 1993, and was incorporated into the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Agriculture (WTO AoA) in 1995. It was adopted by the FDA and USDA in 1996. Our food safety has gone downhill ever since as we moved away from government inspection of food to government inspection of paperwork.
The FSIS (Food and Safety Inspection Service) of the USDA reports:
Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems rule, (July 25, 1996) “…Under the HACCP rule, industry is responsible for assessing potential food safety hazards and systematically preventing and controlling those hazards. FSIS is responsible for verifying that establishments’ HACCP systems are working…”
Since the inception of HACCP, FSIS food inspectors have complained, but their complaints have been ignored by the USDA. The chairman of the inspectors’ union was even placed on disciplinary investigation status, and the Office of Inspector General was contacted about filing criminal charges. A December 2004 Freedom of Information Act request resulted in over 1000 non-compliance reports—weighing some 16 pounds— being turned over and the charges were dropped.
“There seems to be too much reliance on an honor system for the industry to police itself. While the USDA investigation is still on going at Hallmark/Westland, a couple of facts have emerged that point to a system that can be gamed by those who want to break the law. It (HACCP) shifted the responsibility for food safety over to the companies.” Union Chairman Stan Painter
A bill was introduced in the Senate called The Safe and Secure Food Act of 2005 FSIS calls it “Farm-To-Table – control of every step in the food chain from production to home preparation.” It failed so this time Monsanto is not taking any chances. “…“Both bills will appear simultaneously in both houses, having been planned before the fact. Since both bills are identical, there will be motions to suspend debate and none will be allowed. They will appear suddenly on the same day with the House voting first in the morning and the Senate in the afternoon….”
These bills will strangle family farms in red tape, and levy confiscatory fines, causing farmers to simply give up. Then the Big Ag corporations can grab their land, snapping it up at bargain prices. Once the regulations are in place it will be as difficult to raise a chicken or grow tomatoes as it is to manufacture Tylenol. Then corporations can set food prices in the same way they can set prescription drug prices.
If you have any questions about what is happening remember to read The Death of Farming: a Recent History then contact your Congressman. This is too important to ignore.
Happy Holidays! 
Glenda O. just wrote an interesting article
Water is necessary for sustaining life as well as growing food, and should not be something that we are forced to pay for or go without. S 787, introduced by Senator Russ Feingold, attempts to make all waters that fall from the sky onto our land property of the Federal Government. This is unnacceptable.
The PPJ Gazette 