Friday, May 11, 2012

Minnesota Farmer Illegally Raided, Faces Charges

BREAKING--Calling food freedom advocates in Minnesota! If you live in Minnesota and want to preserve food freedom, then make plans NOW to help Alvin Schlangen, a small family farmer who is facing four misdemeanor charges for providing healthy food to co-op members. I know it's ghastly; how dare he! Take a few minutes to learn about Alvin's story. Also learn/read more about the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, many of whom are under attack as well.

The government's attack on small family farmers and our food freedoms is picking up pace. We need to stand up and defend these farmers. We need to form coalitions that will protect them, their property and their rights, thereby protecting our own rights before the government has striped them all away. When they are raided, we need to drop what we are doing and physically go to their farms and support them. In droves. In large, peaceful groups. It's getting to a fever pitch, it's almost now or never. Here's an inspiring story about one Canadian farmer who got by with a little help from his friends. 40 of them. If you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything, including being completely striped of your right to fresh, wholesome, non-GMO, unadulterated food.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Drop the (Money) Bomb on Monsanto!

Yes, we are referring to a Money Bomb, not a real one which some of you may be disappointed by.  For those of you who want access to pure, unadulterated food and feel that you have the right to know what you are ingesting, this Money Bomb is for you regardless of where you live--cuz you know, us cool folks in Cali set the precedent for the rest of the country often times (/sar).  We're not that cool in Cali but we are certainly on the right track with this issue.  I digress...

The nuts and bolts are: so many people across the nation have become aware of genetic engineering and it's hazards.  Monsanto tells us they don't have to label foods containing GMOs (genetically modified organisms) because they are equivalent to non-GMOs, which begs the question: if they are the same, then how can you patent them??  Ha--gotcha evil corporation!  A bunch of folks in CA got together and started gathering the signatures needed to put mandatory labeling of GMOs on our state ballot in November.  Lo and behold, we got the required number if signatures so we'll be voting on this in a few months.  This also means that Monsanto is launching a $100 million ad campaign extolling the greatness and virtues of GMOs ("we can feed the world," "we reduce pesticide use," both of which are patently and proven false).  Monsanto has boundless resources so this Money Bomb has been devised so that we can bolster the ad campaign in favor of labeling GMOs.  We need everyone's support, not just CA folks because if this passes here, you folks in other states will have a really good shot at getting this passed as well.  We have the right to know what we are eating, what we are feeding our kids, what we are feeding our elderly and sick.  No matter how much propaganda Monsanto puts forth (remember the whole "corn sugar" commercial with the dad and his kid in the (I'm guessing) GMO corn field?!), we have to be able to battle that and wars take money.  And lots of it. Please donate today, anything helps even if it's just one dollar.

Is it just me, or...

Does time seem to be flying by at an exponentially fast pace?  Somehow it's been three weeks since my last post, but I swear it's only been three days (or so it seems).  I have a bazillion notes scribbled in random places of all the things we need to cover but just can't seem to in a timely fashion, which is why I'm left with no choice but to believe that time is passing by more quickly than normal.  For instance, the Dept. of Labor's (DoL) sad attempt at telling us what farm kids can and can't do.  Clearly, no one at the DoL has any remote clue of what it's like to grow up on a farm.  For those of you who don't know what happened, just Google "Department of Labor farm child regulations" or something to that effect to get the full story (I'll post links in the next day or two).  Many people are reducing it to a democrat v. republican issue which is just ridiculous because it has nothing to do with either party.  The brass tacks of the matter is that once again the government is trying to dictate how we as Americans can and can't raise our children.  Those in the dem or "progressive" camp want the nanny state to intervene by regulating farm chores that they deem "dangerous," but have no first-hand knowledge of.  In short, they want to impose regulations on other people's children based on only half the story because they think that having kids work on farms is cruel and unusual punishment.  They are reading left-leaning articles that leave out many important facts, such as the attempted restriction of farm kids having any contact with raw farm materials including produce and eggs, to removing safety training and certification programs from independent organizations such as FFA and 4-H.  Those programs would be replaced with a 90-hour federal safety training course.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  Anyone who has ever dealt with the feds knows where this is going.  If this type of information is new to you, let me break it down plain and simple: the government is doing it's darndest to put small family farms out of business because with the current surge in food awareness and the burgeoning and growing food revolution, agribusiness (which controls the USDA and FDA) is feeling the heat and is losing the market share.  The only way agribiz can retain their monopoly and control over the food system is to rid itself of the annoyance of small farmers whose market share is growing by leaps and bounds.  This leads to my next blogpost which addresses one of the most evil corporations on the face of the Earth, Monsanto.  Read on, my fellow good food fanatics!