Denise Dixon of Morningland Dairy, outside Howell County Courthouse.For those seeking hints for how the judicial winds might be blowing on go-private approaches to distributing nutrient-dense food, a Missouri judge provided some strong ones yesterday. Unfortunately, they weren’t the hints a lot of people will want to hear.
The judicial insights were provided by Howell County judge David Dunlap in the Missouri Milk Board offensive against Morningland Dairy, a cheesemaker that had about $250,000 worth of raw milk cheese embargoed by the state last August. When the company resisted the state’s orders to destroy the cheese–its entire inventory–the state sued and earlier this year won its case after a two-day trial in January.
Before the trial even started, though, Morningland’s owners, Denise and Joseph Dixon, closed down Morningland Dairy LLC and established a private member-based association to distribute raw-milk cow and goat cheese from two out-of-state producers. When two Missouri Milk Board inspectors showed up at the farm and cheese plant in Mountain View in April, while the January decision was under appeal, to check on the embargoed cheese, Joseph Dixon told them they could only view the embargoed cheese in a refrigerated cooler, and that if they attempted to search the rest of the cheese plant and farm, he’d call the sheriff to have them arrested.
That encounter and the discovery that a member of the private association member was selling Morningland cheese from a Missouri retail store led the state to file contempt of court charges against the couple last month.
At one point in the nearly six-hour proceedings, Gary Cox, a lawyer for the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, told the judge his view that the Milk Board inspectors weren’t entitled to do an inspection of a private association’s facilities, and explained how the LLC had been turned into a private association.
“This sounds like word games to me,” the judge stated…This is befuddling to me. Your clients woke up one day and said we are going to change our name?”
Jessica Blome, a prosecuting attorney with the Missouri Attorney General, stated, “They are doing something with the cheese and they won’t let us inspect and it is all very suspicious. Maybe they are producing cheese or maybe not. You cannot form some other entity and expect us not to be able to inspect.”
Gary Cox responded: “I’m saying you can have a private association that is not subject to inspections based on freedom of association, freedom of speech…I’m prepared to cite the cases that support this.”
At that point, the judge began a rant. “None of these rights is unlimited,” he said. Cheese production at Morningland “would be illegal. The abstract right of association would not immunize you from regulation. I was not born yesterday.”
Gary Cox then cited a case out of Arizona in which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wanted to consult an attorney who wasn’t a member of the bar, and a court ruled that legal.
“But that lawyer could not come into court and argue the case,” Judge Dunlap said, his voice rising. “You can get any advice from any crackpot you want to. If you are going to bring them into a court of law, they have to have a license. It is a settled question. You have to have a license to appear in court and you have to have a license to produce and sell cheese. I’m not gong to sit and listen to some babble you have about some new interpretation of federal law. If that is your contention, I’m not going to waste this court’s time. This is something that would be absurd…I don’t have the patience for it.”
You had to feel badly for Gary Cox, standing in front of the black-robed judge, seemingly on the verge of being tossed out of court. Adding insult to injury, Cox was standing there in shorts, t-shirt, and sandals because U.S. Air had lost his luggage the previous day on the trip to St. Louis.
The judge didn’t toss Cox, but later in yesterday’s session, reiterated his contempt for the Morningland Dairy private association when Cox attempted to introduce a copy of its contract as evidence. This came when Cox questioned a manager at a retail food store, who joined the association and then sold Morningland Dairy cheese he purchased at the store. Cox said the retail sales were a violation of the private association’s rules, but the judge wasn’t sympathetic. “If the intent of the (contract) is to say we are doing this privately, the court doesn’t think so. The state is saying the same thing…I’ll let you put it (the contract) in as evidence…I’ll let you go down an obviously barren path to nowhere.”
As Jan Steinman noted following my previous post, freedom of association seems to be fine for FDA and corporate execs. But for a food-related organization? Not so fast.
Just to make matters even worse, an inspector with the Missouri Milk Board said that tests done on one piece of the outsourced Morningland Dairy cheese obtained at the local food store showed the presence of staphylococcus aureus. Missouri has no guidelines about what is an allowable quantity of this commonly occurring bacteria, but the inspector noted that the amount present slightly exceeded guidelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The state in its contempt request sought the authority to search the Morningland Dairy facilities whenever it wants, as well as to gain access to all the private association’s records, including a list of all members. It looks like a pretty solid bet the state will get whatever it wants from a judge who doesn’t seem like he’s about to join a herdshare or food club any time soon.
As for the Dixons, the judge’s attitude seems to put the kabosh on their attempt to get back into business. They’ve already had to fire six workers who helped make cheese at the plant–a not-insignificant loss in a rural area desperate for jobs–and were losing money running the private association. None of that, including the fact that no one ever became ill from any Morningland Dairy cheese, seems to have any bearing. It seems to be all about carrying out the FDA’s agenda.
“In the shadows sat the deputy commissioners of agriculture and their henchman, Michael Cahill, director of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, silently watching.”
http://www.marlerblog.com/legal-cases/raw-milk-linked-to-wisconsin-illnesses-can-you-say-conspiracy/
From the statist perspective, just like Mark's "two raw milks", .there are two "rules of law". Those with the money and the guns get to say what the law is. You get to obey it.
Whine about your rights? The only difference that will make is that they will laugh and sneer with contempt as they kidnap and execute you.
Do you understand?
I've never seen the folks at the timeshare vacation resort washing towels, vacuuming the pool, making the beds, or anything of the like. The most I've seen is rearranging the chairs at the pool deck to follow the sun. I suppose time-share vacation rentals are simply a ruse to bypass actually having to be rich.
Take George Gordon's test : which of the Ten Planks of the Communist Manifesto is NOT in place in your neighbourhood? The anti-dote to communism is = assertion of the right to use and enjoy one's property
even the lemmings understand that one
Sitting back and reviewing the current trends in the anti raw milk enforcement is nether entertaining nor enlightening. It is depressing to say the least.
Nothing seems to matter in the Morningland dairy case.
The question will be now how far are those willing to go who are involved in the new association to protect and defend their right for food.
If the farmers have to keep defending themselves against these vicious and underhanded attacks we WILL loose those farmers. As you know there are not many left.
I care about everything the Government claims to care about: food safety and risk management.
Any violation of basic rights on individuals is an act of war.
We are at war; unless we are willing to sacrifice ,not just compromise, we will loose and will look back at the lost opportunity of preserving our last domain of freedom.
It all comes down to resist ,resist, resist.
Jail is such little sacrifice compared to becoming guilty of helping a dictatorship unfold uncontrolled.
Oh my god. Anybody who thinks this is not soo bad might want to study history.
Direct actions of resistance are needed and necessary mostly by consumers.
—–
I'm going to take a shot in the dark here and suggest that IF (big IF!) this outbreak is tied to raw milk, it is probably campylobacter, and it is probably because the milk has a pseudomonas problem:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101007093617.htm
This again, reinforces the need to legalize and regulate raw milk. Clearly, the current blanket prohibition is not preventing outbreaks… if anything it is contributing to them. With the proper controls and incentives in place for farmers to produce a superior quality clean raw milk, and with laboratory test results published so that the public can see the farm's bacteria counts, raw milk production can be made very safe. The problem is that these incentives and controls do not exist currently, because it is an unregulated black market with strong disincentives for producers to publish their lab test results.
And yes, I still maintain that Jim Doyle's extremely unpopular veto of the raw milk bill last year was in large part responsible for the election of Scott Walker. There are very few people here in America's Dairyland who have not consumed raw milk at some point in their life, regardless of political party.
Look no farther than the brilliant actions of the moms in Kentucky.
Break the official quarantine seals and sign your name along side of the other 100 names on the list showing who actually owned the raw milk because the people who signed the list owned the cows.
Decisive action in Kentucky, changed everything and the embargo was lifted in a few days.
Look no farther than Rawesome in LA….three hours after SWAT left the doors were open and food was flowing. No charges filed in over a year.
All fear no actual threat. I do agree that a GUN in your face is pretty serious. But the cops can not really shoot you with out some serious consequences to the public outcry and some serious occupational setbacks and probably jail time ( at least most of the time….I do not trust 99% of cops and I have a hard time figuering out the 1% ).
So this is all about fear and scare tactics. Do not buy into it…simple mass non compliance is pretty darn hard to suppress.
Pretty darn hard…try impossible. This is a war about self determination of your families health. none the less….it is a war. No question.
Right now with all the fresh grass there is plenty of bright orange butter.
Ken Conrad
I am ashamed that this can happen in the land of the free. The burden of proof should be on the state, not this farm. I beg people who care about this farms survival to donate to our pledgie.com campaign to help this farm survive this onslaught of ignorance. Here is the website to give charitable relief to this farm: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/13790
As for Brigitte Ruthman. I love this farmer. She is salt of the earth, animal loving and hard working. She is the smallest of farms, a bootstrap farmer who has worked several jobs to build her little farm into a going enterprise. Please, read her backstory on my blog and raise the roof to Mass authorities on her behalf!
http://hartkeisonline.com/raw-milk/joshuas-farm-vs-the-commonwealth-of-massachusetts/
If we don't stand up for her, no one will. The other Mass dairy farmers, including the raw dairy farmers have apparently left her hang out to dry. If this bootstrap business goes down, how many young people will attempt a small farm in the future? How can we revive this flagging economy, if our system and regulators are hostile to tiny businesses such as this?
Free enterprise needs to apply to farmers. These regulators actions must be scrutinized. Common sense and compassion is sorely lacking. We should not accept an errant belief about the hazards of raw milk to drive public policy.
Let's make this an issue in the Presidential campaign. Make the politicians take a public stand.
The only presidential candidate out there who supports our right to drink raw milk is Ron Paul.
We need to get behind him . . . .
Mark and I just talked to one of our friends today who is a Permaculture expert and has political leanings very far left of ours. He paid our farm a visit for the first time since last fall and told Mark that he is beginning to understand where we are coming from and is now becoming more like us and is embracing a Libertarian viewpoint in his politics.
Why is it that the left wants us all to embrace social justice, civil liberties, a social safety net . . . yet every day we are becoming more like slaves? More rules, regulations, taxes, licenses, etc. Our economy is looking more and more like we are being plunged into a Depression. We are loosing our freedom through all these elite idiots in power. The Republicans of the center and right have no real solutions either. . . much like a Band-Aid over an amputation.
I am sick of it and you all should be too.
We must fight them all and get rid of them all . . . . starting with those who voted for the "Food Safety and Modernization Act". . . . and especially Obama who put his signature on this.
I hope we are not too late.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
MW
What you suggest makes some sense, except for the fact that FDA tests of the cheese-making plant showed no evidence of listeria. And in order to get back into cheese producing, the Missouri Milk Board had a list of upgrades to the plant that suddenly surfaced that Morningland estimated would cost $75,000…the upgrades coming even though the plant hadn't previously been cited for being non-compliant. Would have been nice if the FDA and/or the Missouri Milk Board had been willing to work with Morningland to help via further testing figure out the cause of the listeria problem. But they weren't, despite Morningland's requests.
David
You note regarding Brigitte Ruthman, "If we don't stand up for her, no one will. The other Mass dairy farmers, including the raw dairy farmers have apparently left her hang out to dry." Yes, it's the other Mass. dairy farmers led by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Massachusetts (NOFA-MA, http://www.nofamass.org/). I know that Brigitte has attempted to work with NOFA-MA–she even testified on behalf of the legislation it has been pushing to allow deliveries of raw milk from permitted farms–but she's been ignored. I'm not sure if NOFA-MA and the farmers fear competition from herdshares if the herdshare legislation is approved, or if NOFA-MA is holding a grudge from past disagreements. I do know that, in this struggle, unity is essential.
David
Besides, I would not want the raw milk movement associated with xenophobia and racism:
http://reason.com/archives/2008/01/16/who-wrote-ron-pauls-newsletter
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul314.html
Paul's position on immigration places him in line with neoNazi's and KKK members: US troops out of the Middle East and onto the Mexican border. I can never support this man. His rhetoric is very empowering to middle-class white people fed up with a government that is totally controlled by big corporations, granted. But he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.
A much better bet for us is to organize an effective movement for raw milk and local sustainable foods. Support your local dairy farmers. Support the Dixons!!
http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/the-future-of-american-job-creation-urban-agriculture-in-milwaukee-to-provide-150-jobs-to-low-income-residents/
Growing Power in inner-city Milwaukee is an incredibly innovative urban permaculture project, focusing on social justice for primarily African American communities. Not mentioned in the article is that Growing Power has a mutual relationship with the school for begining dairy farmers run by Dick Cates, which emphasized pasture-based methods of animal husbandry. Dick Cates is a family farmer and a director of the DATCP board. Dick has been an advocate for raw milk legalization in Wisconsin.
Love your take on Ron Paul.
I love only parts of him. The rest is just as you said.
I have made it a policy here at OPDC, to not align with any specific political party or candidate. In the raw milk movement, there is everything from Tea Party, Green Party, No party, All Party, Teat Party, Red Party, Left and Right sides of the fence, Up Party and Down Party,…Asses and Elephants. You name it, we have it, but we feed everyone equally.
So I am very cautious about labels and candidates.
I stick with health freedom and humanitarian positions. Most people can embrace that.
Mark
Ron Paul is one of the foremost champions of liberty in our time. And he has more integrity than the rest of Washington put together. There is zero indication that he is a wolf in sheeps clothing. And he's not a racist. The racist smear is an old gambit and has been dealt with already.
He is a man who deserves our support and who can win. He is running in the thick of the pack now in the GOP race, has a ton of committed supporters and has broad appeal amoung all who love liberty and hate statism. Not only that but he has repeatedly out-polled Obama in polling matchups (both in this race and in the 2008 race).
http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/ronald-reagan-on-ron-paul/8/
I am a middle class white person. I recognize my privilege, and the exploitation of land, oil resources, and native people which went into creating the privileges I enjoy. We could all have the courtsey of doing the same.
Support your local dairy farmers. Politicians are not the answer.
I agree that associating the movement with ANY politician isn't the answer, but I think the real foods movement will be harmed more by smearing a well-intended individual like Ron Paul than it would be by supporting him. No, that's not an endorsement; it's a call for civility and neutrality.
Andrew
As a middle class person who was raised during the Carter/Reagan era I can tell you this.
I remember lots of fights between my parents during the Carter era . . . there was no money in the house . . . all that my dad made went towards the mortgage/food/energy. We lived in Michigan There was nothing left over and my father had a college degree. Inflation and high taxes were eating everything up.
I also remember that the shipping traffic along the St. Marys River in the UP of Michigan fell off a great deal during that time. We got to swim alot more in front of my grandparents house because the big Shipping Freighters would not go by as much. . . .
When Regan was elected . . . . two years into his presidency . . . . my parents became more relaxed about finances. My Dad's job was secure for once and my parents were able to make improvements on our suburban house and even put in a pool.
Life got better under Reagan . . . .his presidency was not perfect but lives were definitely made better during those times.
The Iron Curtain fell in Europe only a year or so after his presidency ended. We outspent the Soviets and won freedom for those in Eastern Europe (my relatives in Albania included:) . . . . I think that is a huge accomplishment.
Bush was the establishment candidate for the Republicans and he was a committed globalist . . . "Rembember the NEW WORLD ORDER" . NAFTA was conceptualized under Bush's presidency and was debated during the 1992 presidential campaign Ross Perot was the only one that got it right with that big sucking sound of our jobs. Those jobs were indeed lost.
Bill Clinton then became president and with the help of that establishment republican Newt Gingrich . . . . Passed NAFTA. China was Clinton's bargaining chip and then became the "Most Favored Nation" in trade status. Our jobs began to be outsourced exponentailly over the next several years . . . .the H1B visas that have taken away so may high tech jobs from Americans was put forward by an "establishment" Republican Senator . . . and here we are today.
No jobs . . . . and we don't create anything anymore . . . go to any hardware store and all of our nuts and bolts are now made in China.
Pathetic really.
The establishment in both parties sold us out starting in earnest in the late 80's. The majority of us really don't care because we have such a huge safety net now. Many votes are tied to this.
Cut any program and a major part of the electorate goes nuts.
We have become divided over the crumbs that the governement decides to give us. None of this was written into our constitution.
The truth is we are broke and Obama does not seem to care and our legislators are too afraid to cut anything . . . . Tax more with the inflation we have today and our country will crumble.
Ron Paul is the only politician out there that understands this . . . . he is not a racist. He does advocate that we have no place in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.
Our borders must be protected and illegal immigration must be stopped. I have nothing against immigrants but please get in line if you wish to join our society . . . . like my Grandparents did who came here legally. We will not pay for your food stamps, health care, etc., unless you get a green card and have your payroll taxes deducted like everyone else.
During the last Depression in the 30's . . . . farmers were targeted by the feds. Pricing was the issue then. They are going after us now for "safety" reasons. This works . . . . because TPTB have determined that this is the right button to push with a dumbed down and scared electorate to achieve their agenda.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
It was dairy farmers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Wisconsin_milk_strike
This is class warfare, folks. If we think that a politician like Paul is on our side, then we have another thing coming.
It is time to get back to the land and build a sustainable, local, and democratic cooperative economy. This extreme individualism is not the solution, though. A cow-share is a partnership between consumers and producers. It is not an excuse to avoid regulation. Michael Schmidt understands this, that is why he won his court case where others have failed.
I do agree that the Dixons have been horribly mishandled by the powers that be. They need our support. Let's focus on that instead of supporting a political candidate. Thanks.
You are right. Before a court appearance of such importance . . . . I would have definitely hit a local mall at the last minute and bought a decent suit even if my luggage was lost.
I think Gary was entirely wrong to enter the court with his garb. It only made his argument that less important in the eyes of that judge.
There is a saying that comes to mind written by Mark Twain . . . . "the Clothes make the Man or I might add . . . Woman":)
If I had contracted someone to represent me in a court of law and he/she showed up in a tee shirt, shorts and sandals . . . . after that appearance they would be fired. This was not very professional.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
It was dairy farmers in 1933 . . . . over pricing regulated by a Socialistic leaning president FDR . . . . They poured milk out or tainted it before they would take the price the government offered them. They were under the the pressures of inflation which is why they wanted to raise prices to stay afloat and save their farms but the government shut them down . . . .FDR did not understand this as he was being advised by Kenyesian Economists (like Obama is today). This strike was against the processors who were aided by the government. I know my history, Bill. . . . this strike was highlighed by an Econ professor who was one of the few non-left leaning professors that I had in College. He had us compare Mises to Kenyesian Economics to many of the problems we had economically during the Depression of the 1930's
There is a HUGE grass roots movement in support of Ron Paul over any Establishment Candidate . . . .What is your problem here Bill?
Kind regards,
Violet.
This is worth a listen….this chef says it all in 19 minutes. Great review of how we got to 2011 and where CAFO's are sending us.
Like I said….feed all the people with raw milk and leave the politics alone. The good thing about Raw Milk and good whole food… is that people starting thinking more clearly and make better decisions when their guts function.
Politics has everything to do with food choice. If you don't understand this then you are very Naive.
After all . . . . you asked us how we should get Obama to listen to us in a post on David's prior blog entry.
Obama will not listen to us because he just does not care.
We need people out there who stand with us and care. To take us to where we want to be with regards to food choice. I don't think you want to fight the FDA for the rest of your life . . . and I really don't want to fight as a farmer issues like NAIS or S510 ever again. S510 needs to be repealed and NAIS needs to die period (but they keep trying to bring it up again and again).
All those in favor of these plans that are in office need to go. They are in bed with "Big Ag" and are not friends of the small farmer or those who wish to consume nutrient dense foods. As a farmer . . . . I don't need you to tell me to stand down. I need you to stand with me and all the other farmers out there who feel like I do.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
If politics does not matter . . . . then why did you fly to DC to give a speech regarding the FDA raid on Allgyer's farm.
The FDA is controlled presently by the Obama administration.
I think you are being disingenuious here. Are you trying to please two masters? . . . . those like us who are working hard to get the government off of the backs of quality small raw milk farmers/small farmers that provide nutrient dense food AND are you trying to please the Government?
Which side do you serve and please do not confuse the participants on this blog with more hand waving about how you educate. Most of us small farmers out there educate too . . . . and we also tell future small farmers to be wary of all government interventionwith regards to our food rights. Remeber the USDA mantra way back . . . . "get big or get out".
The founding fathers of this nation did not need the FDA, USDA or any other government entity to tell them how to farm.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
When I went to WA DC and made my speech. I spoke to everyone in the crowd not just some of them. The worst mistake any of us can make is to start adding: pro life v. Prochoice or pro gun v. anti gun or pro marriage v pro gay marriage agendas to a nutritional civil rights uprising that is an agenda that is shared by all.
The quickest way to alienate 75% of your audience is to take up a political agenda. Our political fight is shared across all lines and conventional divisions. I would be more than happy to share my politics in private.
When feeding people stick with basics of equality,humanity and justice. I do agree that how we vote is very important. But….. How we vote with our dollars is probably more important to our health and nutritional futures in America. History tells us this for sure. The FDA stays the same administration after administration. Teach x3 and vote with your dollars.
"Chinese scientists have produced a herd of genetically modified cows that make milk that could substitute for human breast milk"
This is sick in so many ways. "possible alternative to formula in a nation rocked by tainted milk powder scandals." So, instead of changing how milk is processed, they continue to adulterate it? What is wrong with this picture?
Silvia
Those who promote GMO technology fail to recognize their personal limitations and the limitations of their technology.
Ken Conrad
One thing I do agree with you about: Obama isn't going to solve any food problems. I agree with another poster that he has much to learn. The problem is, he isn't teachable. Anyone hoping for change was duped. He isn't listening and doesn't care to listen. Where I disagree with you is in your belief that anyone on the other side of the aisle cares or is listening.
No current politician or political party is going to solve our problems. None of them are interested–even the ones you like. Focus on the food issues. All it takes is 10% of the people embracing the facts about the current state of food production and getting mad as hell. Our problem is that the spinmeisters for corporate phood outnumber us and are highly paid. They get their message out early and often and are very clever about it. Look at the HFCS ads. Look at the current drumbeat for irradiation of everything because of the outbreak in Germany. Look at the nonsense being spewed about Monsanto providing the technology to feed an ever-growing world. People believe this crap. We know better and we can tell the truth to everyone we know without ever mentioning FDR or Ron Paul.
Sylvia,
I had a Chinese dairy delegation visit OPDC about five years ago. I have never met a more clueless group of people in my life. They had no idea about nutrition, no idea about lactose intolerance and GUT physiology. No idea about pasture feeding, CLA or Omega 3 ratios, No idea about natural methods of dairy or organic dairy and thought that UP or UHT would make all the people of China physically taller. Yes….their mission was to make the nation of China a nation of tall people by adding more cow ( dead ) protein into their diets.
Scary as hell to think that 1.339 billion people want to use ( dead ) cloned cow protein to get taller. Talk about cloning and CAFO's….
Now about your breaking news on Cloned Chinese cows making Human Like Milk….I am sure that they screwed that up also. They will UHT it….
Now…about the cloning, do the cows have 2 or 4 tits or teats???
Is Hugh Hefner involved with any of this? Do they wear bra's to hold all of that extra human mammary tissue?
The Chinese have read the wrong fortune cookie on this one!!!
Hey Chinese friends….try feeding the moms better and breast feeding. You guys are stuck in the 1950s…..this is the kind of thinking that happens when a central party with old men start trying to make decisions for nature and for a billion people.
The Chinese Media has just reported long lines of men wanting jobs as milkers at the Cloned Human-Cow Milk Dairy.
This reads like a low budget Japanese SCI FI Godzilla movie.
The impact would be massive. The tremors would be felt widely, Wall Street would take immediate notice, boardrooms would tremble with confused pissed off CEO's… marketing department strategies would be questioned????
Pay the "local organic farmer" instead of Monsanto or ADM or Deans Foods or Tyson….OMG. Who ever has the presidency would matter so little with this economic Tsunami effect.
I love Ron Paul, he was for all of this before it became 'cool' to be for it.
When I made big food changes in my life I e-mailed each of the companies where i previously bought products. I heard back from nestle and rec'd some coupons from MacDonalds. Nestle and i went back and forth quite a bit actually. My oldest kids remember when we ate no nestle products in the 70's because of the baby formula scandal and ate no head lettuce because of the plight of the migrant workers. I despise both the dems and the reps as parties, though i like a few of the individuals in them. I did not support Obama, after Ron Paul was out, i was through, but the one hope I held was that he would give short shrift to monsanto et al and support real food. If anything he is worse than Bush, in fact he is worse because he should have distanced himself from those who were proven to be corporate goons. Instead he embraced them. He is not a stupid man, he wants them in power, he knows the impact and does not care.
I try to take care of my little corner of the world, urge others to do the same, and support principled men such as Ron Paul.
http://www.marlerblog.com/legal-cases/bacteria-that-caused-illnesses-among-school-event-attendees-matches-strain-found-in-unpasteurized-mi/
Paul is in favor of liberty, not more burdensome regulation. With him as president we can be confident that things would materially change in the governments approach on raw milk and I can't say that about any other politician running for president today including Obama.
Obama's problem isn't that he doesn't know about the raw milk issue, his problem is he's a through and through establishment candidate greatly in favor of government intervention and regulation. I mean, this is the guy who is openly ordering the assassination of American citizens; its insane to expect anything good on the liberty front from the current president. About the only thing he'd possibly be open to is increasing national regulation of raw milk. Oh wait, thats what Mark and Bill are pushing for. No wonder they don't support Ron Paul.
You can't vote for your dollar for a product that is illegal and not for sale.
Thank you:)
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.vom
WWII pulled us out of the depression.
I am speaking about Mises vs. Keneysian economics I don't really know why you brought up Milton Friedman in all of this.
For the layperson . . . .this is Mises take on economics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises.
Sophie . . . are you a farmer? I teach people every day about the value of nutrient dense food from my Farm Store. I go above and beyond even what Joel Salatin does. I raise all of my own animals from breeding stock . . . . Poultry and Sheep . . . . Incubate my own eggs from that breeding stock, and raise all of my poultry and sheep entirely on pasture . . . I also save seed from year to year as I only grow the best tasting heirloom vegetables.
I also have a blog . . . . have you visited it?
I don't really think you understand where I come from on this issue.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com
I also have a blog where I share my experiences and lessons about finding and eating local, sustainable, and ethical food. I also post news items and political rants on the topic.
I think I know where you're coming from. It's where you might be going to that gives me pause.
I was an eater before I became a farmer . . . . which is why I started farming because I was paying those high premium prices for great food and then realized I could grow and raise everything myself . . . save money . . . . and help others in the process.
Please send me a link to your blog.
I also got mad last winter . . . . really, really mad when S-510 passed.
I was infuriated when I found out that our own director of MOFGA in Maine supported this bill . . . and stated . . . . but at least we can now sit at the table. Russell Libby has yet to respond to an e-mail I sent to him two months ago asking him if he has been invited to that table yet.
Like I have said over and over again. Those that voted for this bill or signed it into law need to go. I don't really care who you are or what party you belong to . . . . if you voted to hamstring my farm with more regulations then you are no friend of mine or my customers and I will work my hardest to get rid of you.
Kind regards,
Violet
http://www.kilbyridgefarmmaine.blogspot.com