How Are MDA and Wicked Witch Alike? Attention to Jury Nullification; Salatin in Chicken Demo, Farm Matchmaking
The 250 or so people attending my presentation Saturday on "America's Underground Food War" at the Mother Earth News Fair in Pennsylvania broke into applause when I told them, near the end of the talk, that Alvin Schlangen had been acquitted of all charges Thursday in connection with his raw milk and private food case.
Like the members of Schlangen's food club, they no doubt wanted to begin humming, "Ding Dong, the Wicked Witch Is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz.
Wish it were so. But the Minnesota Department of Agriculture has made clear that it won't go as easily as the Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West. Its statement following the Schlangen verdict wasn't merely defiant, but defiant in a haughty way.
It said it has "respect (for) the role of the jury." But in fact, it not only has no respect, but it has complete contempt for both the role of the jury and the rule of law. How can I tell? When the MDA says, "The law on this matter is clear, and the jury was tasked with making a narrow finding" of guilt or innocence, it seeks to marginalize the jury's role and decision.
Obviously, the jury didn't think the law was clear at all. Or, even worse from the MDA's viewpoint, the law was clear and Schlangen was found to not have violated any of the laws alleged by the MDA. So the MDA is saying the jury was wrong.
Further, the MDA suggests the jury's finding was of limited impact by saying the entire matter was about "a narrow finding..." In point of fact, the jury's verdict was on fairly important and wide-impact matters covering private distribution of milk and other foods. I'd say it was a broad finding.
And finally, the MDA suggests that because the jury possibly struggled in its decision--"deliberated for as long as they did shows that they found the decision a difficult one to make"--the matter is somehow still in limbo.
In the end, the agency sounds like a bunch of mobsters when it adds, "Protecting the integrity of our food supply remains our top priority, and Minnesotans expect us to do that job using modern science and the law as our guide." In other words, jury decisions are for the masses to obey, not us mafioso, as in, We decide what qualifies as "modern science" and we decide which laws we'll obey and which we'll ignore.
The MDA is strongly suggesting it need not bother with a jury bound by "the highest burden of proof in the legal system..." I take that to indicate that in the future, it will seek to avoid juries, and stick with its own administrative hearings, along with cases that can be tried before judges--lower burdens of proof required. That means the agency may need to dispense with criminal charges in its harassment of farmers and food clubs, since the U.S. Constitution guarantees a jury trial to everyone charged with a criminal offense.
All in all, it's going to be interesting to see how the MDA's assault strategy evolves. It faces at least one serious problem it didn't mention in its revealing statement, based on the reality that it can't independently file criminal charges against farmers in court. It must depend on public prosecutors to do its dirty work.
Unfortunately for the MDA, public prosecutors like to win. You may have noticed that the prosecutor in the Schlangen case, Michelle Dossing, refused media comment after the decision. Prosecutors like to bask in the media glow of having convicted dangerous criminals and sent them off to jail, not explain why they couldn't convict a farmer for providing food to his food club members.
A few more outcomes like the Schlangen case, and the prosecutors around Minnesota won't be returning the MDA's phone calls too quickly. Indeed, prosecutors in other states won't be responding very positively to their ag departments with similar cases as Schlangen's.
Beyond all that, the publicity about the jury's verdict threatens to spill over into specifics about alleged MDA misconduct against Schlangen. The MDA doesn't do well with publicity. Its bitter statement about being above the law isn't a constructive response. Nor are the facts that have begun to emerge about the MDA's two-year-plus assault on Schlangen.
As Schlangen recalls the events of March 9, 2011, which led to the misdemeanor charges against him, "The MDA stopped and illegally seized, searched and confiscated the property carried in the private delivery truck belonging to the Schlangen family farm. This action occurred at the foot of a sports stadium at St Paul Macalester College, where a group of students were able to connect with the Schlangen farm for their choice of local sustainable eggs. I was not allowed to deliver the product of my farm to the college group that day. In fact, those very eggs were confiscated, along with fresh farm dairy food that belonged to the members of newly formed Freedom Farms Coop.
"The same day, the (food club's leased warehouse space) was raided, food was seized as well as packaging material including empty milk crates, even several gallons of used veggie oil that was potential fuel for the delivery rig. With a wholesale value of more than $5,000, this was in fact grand larceny, aggravated and pre-meditated, by MDA officers."
Now that Schlangen has been acquitted, lots of people would like to see him go on the offensive, and force MDA to compensate him for the property its agents stole, as well as for uncalculated damages caused to Schlangen's farm and to the food club members.
The MDA will clearly have to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing. The first step would have been to admit that the legal system in the form of a jury has rendered its decision, and regardless of how its officials might feel personally, they intend to comply with the verdict and its spirit going forward. The next step will be to own up to its misconduct and pay up.
**
The reverberations of the Schlangen acquital already seem to be spilling over to Wisconsin and the upcoming (in January) Vernon Hershberger trial. Hershberger has been charged with misdemeanors similar to those against Schlangen, for serving a food club.
A major campaign is taking hold to spread the word about jury nullification, the right of jury members to vote their conscience and acquit a defendant accused of breaking laws that jurors feel are unjust. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld jury nullification, but judges aren't required to inform jurors that it is allowable, and in fact, most judges instruct jurors the opposite--that they must follow the law, even if they disapprove of it. An article in a major Wisconsin paper explains how Hershberger backers are working to educate residents of his county about jury nullification.
**
One of the highlights of the Mother Earth News conference I attended this past weekend was a live demonstration of how to slaughter chickens. Leading the demonstration was celebrity farmer Joel Salatin and a maker of chicken-slaughtering equipment, David Schafer.
It was a highlight for me because, city guy that I am, I have never seen chickens slaughtered. It was definitely a highlight for others as well--about 600 people crowded into the speaking room where the event was held. When Schafer asked how many of them raised their own chickens, about two-thirds raised their hands.
Prior to beginning the slaughter of half a dozen pastured chickens, Schafer spoke about the process as a "sacred moment." Salatin talked about the "sacrifice" the chickens were making so people could have food.
They explained how they used the kosher/halal method of slitting each chicken's throat, having concluded it is the quickest and most humane way of carrying out the process. Salatin said he has refused some offers from institutional buyers to supply large quantities of chickens, since he would have been required to gas the chickens. He feels that adversely affects the meat quality.
The process as I saw it seemed as peaceful as it could be. There was no squawking by the chickens, who were each placed into special silos after the throat slitting to keep them from flapping around, and to drain blood. Then they went into scalding water to begin preparing the feathers for removal (just a minute or so, to make sure they didn't begin cooking), and then into a gizmo that completed the feather removal process. Salatin's main job in the demonstration was to eviscerate the chickens, removing their internal organs, head, and feet.
I appreciated seeing the demonstration for insights into the "right" way to carry out a task that many in our society would rather not know about it, and also for the effort to convey the seriousness associated with taking life.
**
Another big hit at the Mother Earth News conference was Max Kane, the Wisconsin food rights activist, and his new venture: an online service that matches farmers, buying clubs, and restaurants with consumers. It's known as FarmMatch, and it's currently in beta, if you want to sign up. Lots of people were visiting his booth and signing up.
This site's mission is to provide news and analysis about food rights and raw milk. Increasingly, our access to privately available food is under attack by government and industry forces that seek to impose their choices on us. The Complete Patient seeks to provide up-to-date information and encourage the development of community to maintain traditional food acquisition options.
Transportation, Communication, Refrigeration, Education. Go. Go. Go.
Liberty and freedom are the hallmarks of the political environment in which a people trained to honor and observe the judeo-christian Ten Commandments will do well; as will their honored guests and visitors.
Let’s use our imaginations for a moment.
What is a large grocery chain (LGC)? An LGC has transportation, refrigeration, and local locations. I can go to the LGC two city blocks away and pick-up the sealed package with my name on it from small family farmer, Farmer Smith. That package has a very inexpensive temperature and impact indicator as part of the seal. LGC can collect a transportation/storage fee- only. My private contractual arrangement is always going to be directly between myself and Farmer Smith. The LGC can compete with UPS/FedEx/USPS and anyone else who sees this market for specialized food transportation around the corner (pay close attention, power-mad government agents: market for transportation. Nothing else. Got it?). LGC has advantages over UPS/FedEx/USPS in that they already have secure, refrigerated storage locations with convenient hours of operation. UPS/FedEx/USPS has an advantage in tracking systems for each and every package and to-the-door delivery. Amazon has already beta tested drop-off lockers at convenience stores (think specialized food delivery while you are traveling).
Farmer Smith, his family, his community, his county and his state are very greatly to benefit in this scenario.
The milk pasteurizers, homogenizers, creameries, may need the suicide hotline services that Mark so sadly reported are now up and running for the California dairy farmers.
Mary, et al can get the cow shit hot lines up and running to Marler and Pritzker.
Juries can nullify the crap out of the crap laws and ossified, pointless regulations.
Everyone whose expertise is missing the point, carry on.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
So, this would be like electric cars, right? We'd no longer be beholden to the corporations?
kturner: you got it, that is exactly right. The reason that electric cars = no corporations is that a federal (no less) statute is being drafted that electric cars are legal if and only if they are built in somebody’s garage within 3 blocks, ON YOUR STREET (or within 5 acres of your house if you live in an area that was ever part of the REA (or TVA if you live in Tennessee).
It’s just that simple. But you knew that. Congratulations.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
I love to watch the regulators squirm. Sweet justice.....
I am reminded of how smart our regulators are out here in CA...they see this raw milk market emerging, and do everything they can to avoid looking like jerks...instead they evolve and meet and change to accommodate. They get out in front of this market and look like intelligent leaders....at least they are trying to look that way and for the most part they are. They are not in denial and see the raw milk train coming...
In comparison, the corrupt ness, and maliciousness oppression of the anti raw milk agencies in Wisconsin and Minnesota is astounding. I just love seeing Food Inc squirming as truth comes full circle.
David, thanks for your interpretation of what the MDA really said in their statement! Couple things stand out for me here:
The judge in this case was so impressed by the calm behavior of all the children in the court room he felt compelled to comment on it. This is a huge testament (from mainstream) to the positive effects of raw milk, real food, and conscious parenting. Moms, these trials are not dangerous places...bring your kids! I bring mine. I honestly believe that the MN court room filled with moms and kids forced the jury and judge to see the truth of it all. Maybe even made them think twice about what they were doing. Thank you to all the MN moms & kids, you are making a difference! And a special thanks to Alvin for taking a stand...and keeping all those people healthy!
The other thing is: in the WI article, in reference to raw milk activists distributing jury nullification info the law professor said "the problem for the judge and prosecution would be how in the world would you police what are probably some very civic minded, upright citizens from exercising their First Amendment rights". Could this be an admission that raw milk activists are civic minded, upright citizens?? "It's the raw milk" as said in the Minnesota court room!
Your comment on the possible influence of mothers and children in the court room is very interesting. Perhaps this was persuasive to the jury.
Yes, I think so. If I'm in the jury box looking out at a court room filled with mothers and well behaved children, 1) I notice. 2) I ask myself why are they all here? 3) Ah, for the children...and access to healthy, wholesome food. 4) Why can't a farmer sell it to them? I think it starts people on a thought process that opens the door to the absurdity of denying milk to women and children and farmers from selling the food they produce.
Since the MDA is so intent on playing the "raw milk is dangerous" card, why didn't the Judge just ask for the numerical proof? Couldn't he have asked the prosecution for CDC numbers, current and past? Wouldn't that sort of speak for itself in this ongoing sledge hammering of raw milk being "dangerous to drink"? You'd think a judge would want to know this sort of information, as well as the jury members should be provided with statistics.
Not cherry picked stats, but the REAL numbers. Suppose they'd get 'em?! The CDC pretty much lumps all food borne illnesses and deaths together, no matter the source. Talk about misleading.
This article is from May of 2012 but he does a good job of presenting the numbers and the dataset. He's not trying to convince people one way or the other, just providing facts. Imagine that! I've been following his blog/commentary for about a year now, maybe a little more.
http://chriskresser.com/raw-milk-reality-is-raw-milk-dangerous
This is part 1 of 3 parts. The other two parts are available at his site if you're interested in reading them, but this first part has the stats I was referring to, and some other information about why the CDC can't always be taken at face value, etc.
D. Smith, if you take a look at my presentation at the Harvard Law School debate on raw milk earlier this year, I pulled the raw milk data out of all food borne illnesses (no deaths from raw milk). Neither the judge nor prosecution interested in seeing the numbers, because they suggest raw milk not especially dangerous within the context of total food-borne illnesses. Just scroll to my presentation (second one), which lasts 10 minutes--the data is part of second half.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLRdihFi6gw
@ David: So then this is about food rights more than food safety, I guess. I wish the authorities would make up their minds. It's enough to make one dizzy.
It would seem that if the fight is about food rights, then safety is in question (in the minds of the gov't, because of course the common man himself can't be trusted with rights of any kind) but if the fight is about food safety, then the people supplying the foods (which involves also the buyer's rights) is in jeopardy because the authorities think they MUST have a finger in the pie and they don't care which end it involves, as long as they are in control of something - and the people are NOT. Control is the key word.
It does seem as though the deck is stacked against the common man, and the problem with that is that we can't always count on the courts to do the right thing, especially if they revert to a system of a non-jury platform.
When the gov't starts trying to control the plants we can have in our own yards, it's no wonder they keep targeting raw milk. I'm beginning to think this whole scenario roots back to the health industry more than anything else. I think they're the ones who are really holding the cards and playing the hands. The AMA plays around with our health all the time, and has done so for a LONG time. It wouldn't surprise me a bit to find an AMA finger in the same pie. What the people need is a big surgical cleaver!
It's about control.
Consider this MDA statement from David 's article, “Protecting the integrity of our food supply remains our top priority, and Minnesotans expect us to do that job using modern science and the law as our guide”.
From the above quote where they state, “our food supply remains our top priority “, is indicative of their perceived ownership of such. In suggesting that “modern science” and “the law” are being used simply as a guide, is misleading. Clearly, they have taken ownership of those systems as well through interpretive manipulation in order to justify their coercive behavior.
Ken
Ken, you hit that nail on the head! So true. Control the food/water, you control all.
I know it's about control to a certain degree, but the fact of the matter is - - - if the gov't wants control why don't they just take it and be done with it? I don't understand why they keep playing with everybody.
Almost makes one wonder what else is involved. It just seems like some of the pieces are missing and why do they continue to hassle people (producers and consumers alike) if they're going to cut us off at the knees in the end anyhow? Something just doesn't add up.
IMPHO this is more about $$$$ than it is about anything else. And there's no prize at the end of this ride.
Ken, I agree with you, but you are missing the boat on where the centers of control actually lies.
The regulatory agencies are just puppets of the real powers. The real power rests in the neo-liberal institutions of global finance capitalism. The IMF, World Bank, WTO, etc.
Their agenda is to privatize everything, including the regulatory agencies themselves. The recent struggle over labor union rights for Wisconsin public sector workers is just one step in their ultimate agenda, to hand over complete control of food regulation to private for-profit corporations.
Please see this article, from Vandana Shiva:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Water/Corp_Control_Water_VShiva.html
And this book, from a former insider of global finance:
http://www.economichitman.com/
Bill
Referring to the source of the problem in the plural sense, ie “the centers of power” is interesting, accurate, and indicative as to why there is such a lack of consensus. Who in the hell can draw an accurate bead on such a convoluted power structure?
We all share similar concerns with respect to our current predicament yet we can’t seem to agree on a solution. We get caught up defending our own way of looking at the political world while describing our opponents’ as ideologically blind and dangerous.
If society is in a depraved state then the political ideology that prevails will reflect such. All political movements have the potential to be corrupt including those based on democratic principles. What we are currently experiencing is a moral dilemma.
Ken
I wouldn't reduce the problem to morality, although I would argue that bourgeois morality is certainly problematic. We see this now, in how China is being blamed for our economic woes by both capitalist political parties, when we should be blaming Wall Street and the global trade organizations.
There are material reasons why we are in the situation we are, and these economic forces are by no means simple.
One of the most important economic factors that has dictated the current course of globalization, is the financialization of the economy over the past 30 years. We no longer have an economy based on production of goods, but instead an economy based on financial speculation. The result of this is that the financiers are made all powerful, even more powerful than the old-fashioned industrial capitalists.
Many socialist economists have discussed at legnth the effects which financialization of the economy have had on the relationship between labor and capital. Here's one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0
Like the blood flow within the human body, money flows to where it is needed in an economy, call this ”the financial component.” The better that financial component works, the better for the economy. It works best if it flows freely. The financial component requires actors (meaning those who act, not those we gather ‘round and quietly observe on stage or screen) possessing considerable skill in multiple areas and it requires a sturdy framework (sturdy means: simple (the minimum that is necessary), clear, enduring (opposite of caprice), internally consistent) in governance and business law (I am here addressing nothing in re. the criminal law and the criminal justice) and maybe nothing more than that. You will see failures and successes. Free to fail. Free to succeed. Free to argue. Free to dispute.
Lack in these requirements produces a cascade of negative effects through the economy, slowing and distorting enterprising human effort (effort singly or effort corporately). I sincerely doubt that a “planned economy” can succeed whether or not the planning is overt or covert or in combination. Slow economic strangulation at every turn would probably be the result. Gaming might allow a planned economy to show “success” at points and at times but overall it would trend to death as a permanent state covering all points and static (i.e. there would be no recovery possible). As can be plainly seen, I am contrasting “enterprising human effort” and “planned economy.”
The planned economy model, I believe, is intrinsically at war with the human impulse towards freedom and liberty and efforts to go in that direction are, therefore, necessarily suppressive of reality and, to describe such efforts is to describe a crushing horror of the human spirit.
I will not to go in that direction, now or ever. We must be considerate of the generations to come, to not inflict on them such a horror. Think of it this way: you do not put crushing demands on your infant child, rather, you defend, protect and train the child. So this generation is in the place of the parent and the generations to come are in place of the infant child.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
I don't understand the objection to planning, Ingvar. Even in free-market economies, planning is crucial to business success. An enterprise which does not plan is an enterprise which will not succeed, be it capitalist, socialist, or something else altogether.
The "financialization" of the economy, I am speaking about is the tendancy of financial capital to turn every transaction in the marketplace into a derivative or financial instrument, in order to reduce all value to numbers.
Just imagine... if your beloved "freedom and liberty" could be reduced to a number, where it could be traded on an open market. Are you really free anymore? No, you have been reduced to a slave. That is precisely the goal of financial capitalism, to reduce us all to slaves, via the institutions of debt and wage-labor.
This is precisely the long-term effects of neo-liberal/neo-classical economics, when they are implemented as they have been in the west since the Reagan/Thatcher revolution. If you think the US Federal gov't is the cause of all this debt-slavery and hardship, you are missing the real centers of power. Our ruling class would never allow their power to rest in the public domain where it could be contested. The centers of power are intentionally private.
If we seriously intend to challenge the political power of our ruling class, then we need to abandon the ideology of private property. Its really that simple. Property has a place in an eventual free society, but we must distinguish between personal property and commercial property. All the "libertarians" in this movement seem completely unable to do that, because it requires thinking outside of their established belief system.
Bill,
What’s wrong with being a slave?
Do what you are told to do and you get food, shelter, and clothing. Is there something wrong with that? Don’t slave-owners have to follow the law? Don’t they have accountability somewhere, to someone? Aren’t the slaves happy?, free as they are from the worries of planning and of always having to think of the “big picture?” The slave does his job, has his bread and his circus. That’s about it don’t you think? You object? You want to be… free? You want… liberty? You don’t know what you’re asking for. There is a lot that goes with freedom and liberty. You might not like it. You might want to return to the certainties of life in Egypt, under the consistent, reliable thumb of Pharaoh. Desert living is tough. Fighting is tough.
Freedom is tough. And it is tough under the dictums from Mt. Sinai. Choose.
Are you saying debt is unavoidable?
There is no point handing a book to an illiterate with the thought that the illiterate will read and assimilate the material contained in the book.
Innumeracy is the numbers equivalent of illiteracy. I’ve met innumerates. They live among us. They don’t “get” numbers even at the most basic level.
How can that happen? I’ll tell you how I think that can happen: there is something pushing us constantly; we don’t notice it much at all, as a rule, when young; but later we do for it is constant and unmistakeable. It is time. Time propelling us forward in life. When you combine defects in the home and in education with the universal micro life-propellant, time, innumeracy can result.
An innumerate is incapable of making decisions based on number reasoning.
In regards to private property, if the ideology of private property is abandoned, property decisions will rest with…?
For encouragement I recommend the three books by Los Angeles Unified School District 5th grade teacher at Hobart Elementary (a disadvantaged neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles, California), Rafe Esquith. Mr. Esquith just started his 27th year in that classroom, teaching. To read about what has happened in that classroom, I think, would encourage just about anyone.
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
D. Smith;
If the govt just took all control, they would surely have mass rioting and decent, which would be hard to control and put many against the govt.
If I was seeking to control a large population and land area, I would go about it in a subtle way. Do things that have the people believe I am helping them, protecting them....Hitler basically did that, they too were coming out of the depression, he fed them, set up community entities that would help the people,etc, he supposedly was a charismatic speaker, he slowly took control. It took him years to gain total control. If you repeat something often enough, people will believe it, they will question their own beliefs. If you spoke out against hitler, you and/or your family would suffer/die. Fear can be a powerful motivator.
Money to many is power.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-truth-about-flu-shots/
here is an example of how the govt can 'control' some aspect of our heath care. Mandatory shots, shots that are proven in-effective and potentially lethal.
Mass congregating, in some form, is what NEEDS to happen, IMPHO. It does seem to be the only way to get the attention of those who think they matter in the decision making. Sometimes mass congregating doesn't have to mean rioting. It can be done quietly - much like the Mom's who brought their children to the courtroom in Minnesota recently. They were protesting in their own way, just not with bloodshed. There are ways to get attention without getting violent.
But really - we either have basic rights in this country, or we don't. At least that's how it should be whether we're afraid or not. People tend to believe we have rights when in fact, we do not. The "regulators" have seen to that. The regulatory agencies, i.e., governmental bean counters mostly, consider people's *rights* to be unnecessary and arbitrary, especially if those rights challenge the status quo, even though those rights were given to ALL of us via the Constitution.
But the Constitution also gave those agencies their "freedom" (right) to oversee, although I doubt that the forefathers would have approved of what is being done today with all those *enforcement* rights, which do nothing to signify and/or guarantee our freedoms at all. What the agencies do is meddle, coerce and bully. This seems to be especially true in the area of foods right now.
The gubment already HAS control, really. They've been subtly taking things away from us for a century.
"we either have basic rights in this country, or we don't. " "The gubment already HAS control, really. They've been subtly taking things away from us for a century."
I agree.
the answer to D smith's query is : the law itself was not on trial in the Schlangen case. Ideally, the judge is to be a referee, only / an umpire who keeps the adversarial process of Court, going-along properly. It is not the Judge's role to gainsay what the Legislature - in its eminent wisdom - carved in stone. Since at least 1215 ad. the jury system has operated as a 'mini-Parliament", so one's peers can assess the propriety of any law imposed from on-high. Apparently Alvin Schlangen got a rare thing = a jury composed of ordinary Americans who used their innate common sense of right and wrong ... rather than one hand-picked by the tyrant's hired gunslingers aka "prosecutors"
in Mrs Jongerden's Constitutional Challenge - set for Dec 12 2012 in Vancouver - at issue will be the constitutionality of the provincial regulation outlawing raw milk for human consumption. In it, burden is on the lawyers for the Attorney General of BC to justify state interference in to the "security of the Person" who prefer REAL MILK = informally "their right to choose". If the Crown ( the govt.) cannot come up with scientific evidence to substantiate its position, then the Court is supposed to strike down that regulation
if you can possibly make it to Vancouver for the Raw Milk Symposium, please come and see us. After all the bills are paid, some of the 'overage' will go to paying the legal costs of the Constitutional challenge. The nature of Constitutional Questions is that they grind-along for years. Since 1982, this has become another track whereby we can get Her Majesty's judges to reconsider legislation which offends Canadian core values.
Point being : if we prevail in this court challenge to a regulation which was contrived secretly - avoiding the requisite consultation with consumers of raw milk, merely those of us who are directly affected ! - we could "win all the marbles". If we win the point in British Columbia, the other provinces will be compelled to do the same. Except, or course, La Belle Province ... Quebec ... where they do what they want, anyway!
There, you can get all the REAL MILK you want, pas de problem
As one of the many members of the audience that got to hear David speak this weekend, it was a pleasure to see this blog I have been following for over 3 years come to life. It was a great talk that was part of a great weekend of being surrounded by like-minded individuals. I just wish I had been there a day earlier to see David and Kristin Canty (Farmageddon) on panel, but at least I was able to get a signed copy of the movie and David's book. And I hope I learned a little from watching Joel Salatin working his magic on chickens as well. Keep up the good fight and I hope to see you again some time in the future.
Thank you, and much appreciated. It was great to meet so many people interested in the food rights struggle.
The RAWMILK INSTITUTE is very proud to announce that Charlotte Smith at Champoeg Creamery Oregon is the First American Raw Milk Producer to be LISTED.
Please visit RAWMI to see her website, her RAMP the food safety plan and her bacteria data.
http://rawmilkinstitute.net/listed-farmers/listed-farmer-champoeg-creamery/
At least 9 additional raw milk producers are lined up to be LISTED.
We are also proud that RAWMI was launched about one year ago and during that time "Common Standards" were developed and vetted. CDFA and CA DPH both reviewed draft versions of the RAMP RAWMI food safety plans and gave their opinions and general support. A major training day was held in Oregon which had more than 50 Micro Raw Milk daiy operators in attendance.
A huge congrats to Charlotte Smith for her hard work and patience. She is an example to all.
FYI....the bacteria counts showed at RAWMI show compliance. Her actual counts are far below these numbers. RAWMI decided not to show actual numbers because in some areas, above 10 coliforms would be violative of local standards ( even though this is extremely clean and low risk raw milk ). Charlotte displays her actual numbers for her customers to see at her point of sale.
Progress!!
Mark McAfee
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stophospitals-killing-us-021900611.html?pa...
"Medical errors kill enough people to fill four jumbo jets a week."
I think a jumbo jet carries @ 350-450 people, that's a lot of deaths at the hands of professionals.
CFIA killed 8 more of Montana's sheep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck83tRrPl6A&feature=youtube_gdata_player
With negative results can the farmers sue the hell out of the govt? Turning the their own law on the govt and rallying the people may be key....
To answer the question of comparative rates of illness between consumption of pasteurized milk verses consumption of raw milk here is my take and some simple math:
CDC Cornell University data assessement concluded that 422,000 illnesses were caused by pasteurized milk in the 37 years between 1972 and 2009. Assuming 330 million consumers of pasteurized milk in the USA...that is an illness rate of .0012% over the period of time.
Using the same CDC Cornell University data assessment, raw milk caused about 1,100 illnesses in those same 37 years. The CDC also claims that about 3 percent of the US drinks raw milk or 9.9 million people.
The incidence of illness for raw milk consumption is .00011% or about 1/10 the rate of consumption of pasteurized milk. AND,,,raw milk caused no deaths.
PASTEURIZED MILK or CHEESE caused at least 77 deaths over the same period. It seems curious that all of the CDC news pieces about raw milk dangers cherry pick the dates to avoid the huge outbreaks in 1985 and 1993 that sickened 193,000 ( Salmonella ) and killed 50 ( Jalisco Cheese incident ).
Our CDC is an organization that is fornicating with FOOD INC and the FDA. Where I come from we call this conduct: lying, biased, corrupt and disgusting.
Kristen Papac's latest adventure:
http://www.traditional-foods.com/fermentation/sandorkraut-workshop/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/04/antipsycho...
“Children as young as 18 months are now receiving antipsychotic drugs, despite the fact that the diseases they're designed to treat rarely develop before adolescence.”
“It is bad enough to prescribe dangerous psychotropic drugs to adults, but some of the most targeted people are just barely out of diapers. In 2007 alone, half a million children and teenagers were given at least one prescription for an antipsychotic, including 20,500 under the age of 6. American children are the most medicated children in the world. For example, they get three times more prescriptions for antidepressants and stimulants, and up to double the amount of antipsychotic drugs than kids from Germany and the Netherlands.”
This is the epitome of control and although inconceivable it is not surprising when one considers the medical professions relentless pursuit to vaccinate all children with 49 doses of 14 neurotoxic vaccines by the age of six.
Consider this statement by Dr. Robert Mendelsohn,
"The pediatrician's wanton prescription of powerful drugs indoctrinates children from birth with the philosophy of 'a pill for every ill'."... "Doctors are directly responsible for hooking millions of people on prescription drugs. They are also indirectly responsible for the plight of millions more who turn to illegal drugs because they were taught at an early age that drugs can cure anything - including psychological and emotional conditions - that ails them. "
Ken
How the heck do they determine that an 18 month old requires antipsychotic meds? What BS! I had a 'friend' once who said they were RX'd psych drugs because of a chemical imbalance. I asked what tested were used to determine that.They couldn't answer.
'The idea that brain chemicals cause mental illness is first and foremost a hypothesis. It is not a theory or scientific law by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, an idea based on inductive reasoning (i.e., making observations and drawing generalizations from them) that is considered.' The preceding statement is from a psych student friend. It appears that these 'medications' are being RX'd based on anecdotal evidence, imagine that! The govt allows these powerful drugs to be given to so many people based on what they appear to refer as non-evidence...... To my knowledge there is no tests for chemical imbalance of the brain., unless you are dead and they autopsy your brain-that may work.
@ Sylvia: I can't remember if I've ever posted this information here or not, but boy, Sylvia and Ken - you would love the youtube documentary called Marketing of Madness. It is almost 3 hours long so I watched it in 15-20 minute segments. It is truly fascinating and will have you absolutely seething before you're done watching. I tell people about it all the time because it demonstrates just how much power the medical industrial complex has on our lives and how they got it, not only in the area of psychiatric stuff but really in all phases of medicine. One drug is as worthless as the next but they're working hard to make you believe that chemicals are the answer to our future - in our bodies, on our food and everywhere else - and cancer, well, you know, cancer is just a quaint side effect of chemotherapy. Most people don't understand that drugs like methotrexate and a few others are nothing more than chemotherapy in a pill. Just TRY to convince people of that fact, though, and you run the risk of having to explain medicine from the ground up. That becomes more difficult each year because they're piling on more and more bull puckey - and paying lobbyists humongous fees to keep the CONgress in the pockets of the PhRmacopia magnates.
Never once do they give ethnopharmacopia a thought.
I guess I'm just wired differently, because my first thoughts go to almost anything natural vs medical.
http://health.yahoo.net/news/s/nm/salmonella-sickens-30-in-19-states-pea...
Adding peanuts to your own garden may be the safest.
I would venture to say the flax components are probably more to blame than anything. I don't use flax seeds or flax oil or flax anything because most of it is rancid from the get-go.
I've not used flax seeds. I had read that they go rancid quickly and you never know how long foods sit on shelves on in bins.
just now reading this david. don't expect mda to refer any more criminal cases to the prosecutors. criminal cases guarantee a jury. mda will stick to referring civil cases to the attorney general's office because those are heard by judges.
@ Gary Cox: Yeah, but the charges against him were criminal, not civil, right? How would it work for the charges to be changed to something civil? What I mean is, would the MDA have to have come up with an entirely different set of charges against Alvin in order for it to go to the AG's office?
A number of the cases in Wisconsin (aside from Vernon Hershberger's) have been civil, as I understand it, and were heard by judges, who decided against the farmers and food clubs. The potential penalties are fines instead of jail time, but the cases still take lots of time and energy by all concerned, which is part of the goal. The criminal cases, I would presume, essentially amounted to efforts by the MN and WI authorities to push the envelope, as it were, and use the threat of jail for that much more intimidation.
Right, the WI case that eventually resulted in the infamous Fiedler ruling was passed from judge to judge and never saw a day in court except to pass it on to a different judge. It's been sitting for over a year stalled in the appeal process. Without a trial or a jury it all takes place in writing between lawyers, which leaves way too much room for the "interpretation" of a judge. Fiedler never had to look into the faces of real people, the people who's lives he destroyed when he decided to dissregard constitutional and business law and side with the highest bidder.