It seems as if Scott Soares, the Massachusetts commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, has been hearing from lots of consumers who aren’t pleased about his ongoing efforts to mess with their food by harassing raw milk buying clubs.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, likely on his way rushing out the door, he had his MDAR issue a press release suggesting he was hearing the noise, and was open to conciliation. It’s only when you read the full press release closely that you realize MDAR is not only determined to stamp out the buying clubs, but equally determined to stifle debate–end the game when the opposition is on the five-yard line.
Massachusetts politics is known for being slimy and dirty, with back room deals and endless backstabbing, and Soares is living up to that tradition. It would be almost comical, if he weren’t messing with some people’s food, and other people’s livelihoods.
As I said, the press release starts out all goody-goody, as if MDAR is changing its tune by pulling its proposal “relative to specific prohibition of the purchase of raw milk anywhere but on the farm…MDAR’s reason for doing so is so that it may conduct a broader inquiry into the milk market as it relates to raw milk…The passion and concern on all sides of the raw milk debate have led MDAR to plan for a broader look at issues associated with raw milk.”
I can understand Soares wanting to de-fuse the uproar he’s created. Life is tough when you piss so many people off. But his strategy seems to be based on the hope people won’t read the release any further. If you do read further, you find two little nuggets:
1. MDAR is still determined to wipe buying clubs off the face of the Massachusetts earth. “A Milk Dealer is defined within the Milk Control Laws as anyone in the business of receiving, purchasing, pasteurizing, bottling, processing, distributing or otherwise handling milk. This is still the case, and MDAR will take such steps to enforce violations as they become aware of them.”
2. MDAR is declaring off-limits discussion of the proposed regulation prohibiting buying clubs that it pulled off the table at 5 p.m. on Friday. It says, “…testimony will be limited to the draft of the regulations reflecting the removal of the aforesaid text.” The only matters left, from what I can tell, are adoption of some parts of the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance.
What MDAR seems to be expecting is that come 10 a.m. Monday, it will simply announce what’s in the press release (most attendees won’t have heard about the press release), and that everyone will nod and say, “Oh, okay, we traveled all this way and took off our morning for nothing. No problem, guys. We love ya all the same.” I don’t think so.
Here’s what seems to be really going on, behind the scenes of this three-ring circus. Soares realized a few weeks back that the existing regulations, whereby buying clubs are considered “Milk Dealers,” were not tight enough to survive a court challenge if he went after the buying clubs. So he tried to make his case air tight with the new reg by explicitly prohibiting buying clubs. That blew up in his face in a barrage of emails, phone calls, and media coverage, so now he’s saying he’ll take his chances with the existing reg, and see how he does in court.
And as for the promised opportunity for debate? That’s all off the table. Maybe the “passion” he speaks of has him spooked.
All he and his cronies have done with this latest round of paper shuffling is stir up the hornet’s nest even further. What a bunch of clowns. ?But the show must go on.
Demonstration at 8:30 a.m. Monday on Boston Common near the Part St. T stop. MDAR hearing at 10 a.m. Monday at 100 Cambridge St. Can’t wait. I love circuses.
Bob Hayles
Sure wish I was closer, be nice to see this rat squirm…but there are cows to milk.
Somehow there needs to be a call for an investigation into Soares actions, and his private conversations with those who seek to curtail personal freedom must be fleshed out in the open.
This fool needs to be nailed, and the public in general needs to know that their government is for sale to corporate interests.
Spare nothing on Monday….let these crooked politicians be revealed for the lowlifes they are.
Proudly anonymous….and wise to be so. The milk must continue to flow.
i haven’t read the proposed regulation, but from the snippet you quoted it looks like buyer’s clubs that don’t have anything to do with pasteurized milk are not milk dealers.
also, if testimony is limited to what was removed from the "aforesaid text" then the PMO isn’t even on the table. besides, raw milk advocates could still testify to the removed language and explain why that language should go even farther, i.e., milk clubs or buying clubs are not milk dealers. let ’em testify anyway.
the other issue is whether the agency has provided due process in announcing the limited nature of the hearing via a press release. doesn’t sound like it.
I have seen this before. All they do is piss off the people even more.
Scott Soars needs to be a good politician and use all of this energy and "good will" to fuel his popularity. He should come out and support a change in law so that buyers clubs are legitimate. Then bask in the applause and the joy of the masses.
There I go dreaming again. How does a hearing limit testimonial???
People are going to say what they are going to say….ever seen a hearing try to shut someone up when they want to talk about something they believe in passionately.
It does not work. It just says….this is fascist and we are the dictators.
It really does not resonate with any thing American. Hey Scott…. just give up and come share some raw milk with the healthy people out in the "commons".
Mark
Organic Pastures Dairy Company LLC
7221 So. Jameson Fresno CA 93706
May 10th , 2010
Dear MDAR Hearing Officials,
I am the owner of Organic Pastures Dairy Company located in Fresno California. We produce and sell our pasture grazed USDA organic raw milk to the citizens of California where it is widely consumed.
In California, raw milk is sold to more than 65,000 people each week from more than 400 retail stores. Raw milk is safe, delicious and tested. Children and families thrive on raw milk. We must all remember that breast milk is raw milk and children do best on raw milk direct from the breast or otherwise.
In America today, we are suffering immune related diseases like never before in the history of mankind. Our sterilized, highly processed foods lack the enzymes, beneficial bacteria and good fats that has always been in our food supply prior to the last 75 years.
Our doctors and best research scientists tell us that at least 80% of the human immune system is made up of the bio-diversity of beneficial bacteria found in the intestines. Yetour American diets are devoid of enzymes or biodiversity or good fats from grass fed animals. We are provided none of these life giving foods in our stores or our market places.
As Americans we are secured by the rights founded in our constitution.that we are all created equal and have the right to freedom and hopefully the right to foods that bring happiness and health to each of us. Health does not come from taking more medications and more frequent visits to a doctor. ]
Health comes from food.unprocessed whole food.
In California, raw milk is so effective at improving childrens immunity that it is prescribed by doctors for Asthma, IBS, Crohns, Immune depression, frequent colds, allergies etc. ( Dr. Fields VCH and Dr. Sue Stone MD Fresno CA and many more doctors )
When the citizens of Massachusetts visit their relatives in CA or talk with them on the phone or exchange emails only to find that the citizens of California have ready access to healing delicious raw milkthere is an uproar. A sense of injustice is felt. Moms feel betrayed by the government.
Why is it that some Americans can freely access safe delicious raw milk and other citizens are prohibited from having one drop of this precious healing food?
It is all about the money.it is all about market control. It is not about food safety.
We the people protest this injustice and demand that equal access to food be a civil right and not some arbitrary state by state regulatory whim based on special corporate interests which make more money from sick people than well people and more money from dead milk than raw milk. When farmers connect to their consumers magic happens. Communities are financially stimulated, farms are saved and the health of the consumer is rebuilt. Raw milk is Americas Health Plan and Financial Stimulus package all rolled into one without one dollar of federal tax money spent.
Farmers are once again well paid and consumers are finally well nourished. The food chain works again.
Let us not forget that raw milk rarely if ever causes lactose intolerance yet pasteurized milk causes digestive upset, allergies and maldigestion in massive numbers of the population.
Please preserve the right of the citizens of Massachusetts to access delicious safe raw milk. Whether raw milk is purchased on the farm or from a raw milk delivery system.the location of purchase or method of distribution has zero to do with its safety.
The last three people to die from milk were in this state at Whittier Farms in 2007. It was not raw milk, it was pasteurized milk that killed them. No food is perfectbut raw milk is the very best immune system building food on earth and always has been.
Let the people protect their immune systems and let freedom ring. This is a family based grass roots movement and it cannot be contained. The internet has exposed the truth of raw milks healing qualities and Americans will get their raw milk. Do not stand in their way.
Please work to support this renaissance of health and agriculture for America. All across Europe governments stand in support of easy access to raw milk. Complete with street vending machines serviced by local farmers.
This is America, this is Bostonthe very heart of where freedom was won and celebrated, we can do better than a ban on freedom and a restraint on access to a medical super food.
All the best,
Mark McAfee
Founder CEO
Organic Pastures Dairy Company LLC
http://www.organicpastures.com
1-877 RAW MILK
A blow was struck today that should send a shudder down th spine of all officeholders in DC and at the state level.
Scott Brown’s election in MA was seen by republicans as a blow to democrats, and a feather in the cap of republicans.
Michael Steele and his cronies were ecstatic. I wonder how they feel today?
Electors in Utah told Sen Bob Bennett that he was through…that they were tired of the same ol’ same ol’. He will not be on the ballot in November.
Its a start. One senator down, 32 more, along with all 435 representatives, to go in November.
Bob "Bubba Bozo" Hayles
Mark McAfee seems to understand this very well, with his broad grassroots educational efforts.
You really got to get over the "tea party" stuff here. I understand WHY the tea party is mad — 30+ years of errosion of the middle class, wealth being concentrated in the top tier of the economy, combined with all sorts of "boogeymen" (immigrants, terrorists, welfare recipients, etc…) for white middle class people to blame for their woes. It just too bad the tea party is playing into all sorts of nationalist and backwards sentiments, which is exactly what the establishment and elites want.
Real liberty and democracy are not won by this kind of stuff. I’ll be excited if we start to see real alternatives in the electoral arena (in other words, a third party), but I wouldn’t put my hopes in it. Most change is won from entirely outside the electoral arena. Look at the civil rights movement, the movement against the Vietnam war, or go back further and look at the struggle against child labor and for the 8 hour workday during the industrial revolution, women’s suffrage, etc… show how little it actually matters who holds power in the government. The important thing is that WE THE PEOPLE are organized and mobolized.
Wish I could be in MA on Monday, but can’t make it. ALL THE BEST DAVID, MARK, MAX. Give the food fascists an earful!!!
This late move by the state is just a cheap attempt to avoid getting slammed at their own hearing. How can the state say not to speak on this issue at the hearing all while maintaining the opinion that these buying clubs are illegal? Back in Wisconsin we call this talking out of both sides of ones mouth.
I forget who said it, but a politicians FIRST job upon getting elected is getting re-elected…and if a huge number gt thrown out, and they see their bullshit doesn;t fly anymore…democrat and republicam…they will come into line if for no other reason to keep their jobs…after all, in their minds, keeping their job IS their job…and doing OUR work, like they are supposed to, will be the only way to accomplish that.
Bob "BubbaBozo" Hayles
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
I don’t think that the politicians are the ultimate holders of power in our society, they are merely media personalities. Public opinion of politicians is largely influenced by corporate news media, so any one who steps out of line of the interests of the elites can be quickly brought down. That is why Nixon was brought down, had nothing to do with Watergate (funny how the illegal break-ins of the offices of the Socialist Workers Party and Black Panther Party around the same time never resulted in impeachment charges, hey?) No, the reason Nixon was impeached was because he angered the bankers, by dismantling the Bretton-Woods system and de-linking the value of the dollar from gold.
The ruling class would never allow real decisions to be made by people who are accountable to the popular will. The most important decisions in our society are made behind the closed doors of corporate board rooms, and international trade organizations like the IMF, World Bank, and WTO.
You can change all the politicians you like. The real holders of power will remain untouched until we begin talking about addressing the underlying sources of their power: The military-industrial complex, agricultural-industrial complex, medical-industrial complex, prison-industrial complex, and more fundamentally the base of corporate power — the ideology of American corporate capitalism (corporate personhood) and all it entails from the endless wars for empire, to the destruction of topsoil by a fossil-fuel intensive unsustainable agricultural system.
Which is exactly my point about the "tea party" — it is a gimmick by the establishment to re-direct popular anger, and keep us from attacking the real sources of power.
It was a document written in response to spreading farmer rebellions in the countryside.
It was written and signed by rich slaveholding aristocrats, to centralize power in a federal government, and levy taxes in order to pay off war debts.
It validates the institution of slavery in the 3/5’s clause.
It was stridently opposed by two of the most radical patriots of the American revolution — Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry.
In the vote which ratified it, only white, property owning males were allowed to vote. Women, blacks, natives, and even white males who did not own property were not allowed to vote.
This is why I would never use the Constitution as a basis for arguing for raw milk rights. I’m sorry, but there are many much better reasons to support the rights for raw milk than the U.S. Constitution.
Have I burst your bubble yet?
This is the truest power base. It is the grass roots at its rawist and purist form. Politicians and the FDA would never dare to challenge a breast feeding mother lion that holds a PhD.
Gather the moms and put some cows out on the "commons" and let them crap and pee on the grass. It needs the fertilizer….it has been 130 years since it last had good manure.
Max is absolutely correct…we need a huge rally of people to let MDAR know whos going to be back if they screw arround with the mother lions and their raw milk. This happened in California and since that day and those hearings….CDFA has behaved themselves marvelously. Winning the political geography is different than winning legislative or judicial battles. It is far better and bigger and much more important. It gets the will of the people and the media on our side. It changes the tone of public support and opinion.
Mark
Mark
http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Which left me a bit deflated — until I read this blog. Thanks David, Thanks Milk Farmer, Thanks Gary, Thanks Bob, Thanks WRMC, Thanks Mark!
I asked the tweeter how much of the top 1% of wealth is due to the spending habits of the bottom 80%. I doubt he can answer this, but I suspect we have them really really worried, or we wouldn’t see stupid panic maneuvers like Soares’. Send in the clowns, and let the media trumpet.
We vote 3 times a day. I think it’s working!
-Blair
Thanks for the link, Blair. Interesting analysis.
,,,as well as a rsponse to your inaccurate info, WIRMC.
See (some) y’all tomorrow…I don’t think I’ve ever taken such a fast trip…leave Atlanta in middle of the night tonite, and baclk late tomorrow afternoon…after all…gotts be back to vote in a special election Tuesday…can’t miss that…LOL
Bob "BubbaBozo" Hayles
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
WI Raw Milk Consumer: Obviously, drinking raw milk has affected your ability to see things the way the corporatocracy wants things to be seen. Posts like yours are exactly why they want to ban raw milk–can’t have everyone seeing and thinking clearly for themselves!