Max Kane addresses his supporter outside the Viroqua courthouse before his court appearance. I expected last evening when about 40 supporters of Max Kane gathered at one of Viroqua’s largest homes—now a bed-and-breakfast—that lots of people would be hanging their heads.
Kane had, after all, had all his arguments about the illegality of Wisconsin’s efforts to question him about his raw milk buyers club rejected by a state judge, one who had clearly entered the courtroom prepared to listen to the arguments in the case, and possibly be sympathetic. The judge made it obvious, though, that he wasn’t necessarily rejecting the arguments, but more likely rejecting Max Kane’s presentation of the arguments. My sense of the situation was that the young raw milk distributor could have been the reincarnation of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and the judge still would have rejected him simply because he wasn’t a lawyer. (Yes, Don Wittlinger, that’s the way the legal system operates–this country was founded by lawyers, and lawyers run the legal system, and only want to hear from other “union” lawyers.”
Yet at the dinner gathering, the mood was upbeat. And it wasn’t just because Max Kane had arranged for an array of his favorite foods—the raw items he credits with having eradicated his Crohn’s disease a few years back: raw tuna, salmon, ground lamb, and steak, along with gallons of milk, cheeses, and a huge block of butter for the fresh whole-grain bread . (For those who were raw-food-shy, there was a delicious cooked beef stew.) All topped off with four different cream and cheese pies.
Aside from the food, part of the upbeat mood was clearly due to the fact that a number of individuals from around the country who are outspoken about raw milk and food rights had taken the time to travel to Viroqua, a tiny town of about 6,000 that isn’t easy to get to (a five-hour car ride from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in the snow that is a regular presence this time of year). The outsiders included Michael Schmidt, the Canadian dairy farmer who has been raided four times over the years by authorities there for distributing raw milk; Mark McAfee of Organic Pastures Dairy Co.; Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 2004 (more about him later); and me.
Another part of the upbeat mood was due to the sense, as Michael Schmidt put it to me last evening, “What we saw here was the galvanizing of a movement.”
Scott Trautman, the Wisconsin dairyman who lost his Grade A dairy license for selling raw milk, echoed that assessment, saying that fewer farmers feel intimidated by the state agriculture agency’s crackdown on raw milk that’s been going on during much of 2009. “I’m determined to stand up to DATCP (the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection) until a number of people there are fired.” Moreover, increasing numbers of Wisconsin dairy farmers are coming to hold that view, and are plotting moves to challenge the state authorities, he said.
Max Kane after the court session spoke to supporters and said his upcoming strategy is “appeal, appeal, appeal.” He must have anticipated Hugh Betcha’s suggestion: “Delay, delay, delay.”
The spirited demonstration prior to Max Kane’s court appearance, along with the afternoon of educational talks by the out-of-towners, and the upbeat dinner gathering, all imparted a feeling of growing unity, and growing enthusiasm for the cause that is emerging.
If a movement really has taken shape, DATCP officials, and their cronies at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, may come to regret the decision to make Wisconsin this year’s ground zero in the government’s campaign against raw milk. Their decision to make public examples of people like Max Kane, Scott Trautman, and Wayne Craig has worked, but not in the way the authorities expected. These individuals are now seen as heroes by supporters of food rights, individuals to be supported and emulated.
There are definitely two fronts in the battle for raw milk. There’s the legal front, with cases like that of Barb and Steve Smith, which Steve captures so well in his comment following my previous post. Dave Milano and others articulate clearly the pros and cons of the legal and regulatory side.
Then there’s the political and public opinion fronts that are emerging in the form of legislative and protest campaigns, of the sort that just occurred in Viroqua.
DATCP may have won the court battle on Monday, but they are in growing danger of losing the political and public opinion war, and that may be where the most important action is.
***
One of the downers of yesterday’s events in Viroqua was the sudden illness of Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate in 2004. He collapsed at lunch, after the court proceedings, apparently from a heart attack. He was hospitalized, but by evening hadn’t regained consciousness.
Decked out in a big Texas hat, he gave probably the most fiery speech at the rally preceding the Max Kane court proceedings, declaring, “I own my body and I decide what goes into it.” He repeated his now-famous line, referred to in comments following my recent posting about the FDA’s complaints about Mark McAfee’s threats of violence, concerning forced vaccination: “You bring your needle and I’ll bring my 45, and we’ll see who makes the bigger hole.” He stirred the crowd more than any other speaker.
Afterwards I complimented him: “You really know how to work a crowd.”
“I’ve had some practice,” he replied. Let’s hope that speech outside the Viroqua courthouse Monday wasn’t his last.
***
I’m glad to see the sincerity of the comments following my previous two posts improving. I’ll have to digest all the ideas, but I will say that Paris peace talks sound like something I could handle.
re peace talks, maybe during july 2010, while the tour de france is running!
There is much work to be done with raw milk legalization and regulation. We are not enemies.people have a right to choose as long as the information they receive about raw milk is honest. Have you all watched the videos of Bills raw milk clients? Steve addresses compassion and understanding. The raw milk victims were a part of your raw milk family. You all owe it to them to make sure raw milk is sold to consumers as safe as humanly possible. Regulation is the only answer.
A compromise can be found for the raw milk movement. I agree with Bill, the state of Washington has a great model to follow. Raw milk can be sold from the farm with regulations and everyone wins. Would this be such a horrible solution?
I hope Steve and Bill can meet (Paris does sound nice) and build bridges for this movement.
cp
We won 100% of the political high ground by making positive front page news for two days straight and that is always the great measure of an effort!! We also galvanized the effort and have the email addresses and names of the several hundred raw milk soldiers that will move the pending Wisconsin raw milk legislation forward to a big win. Scott is quite the powerful cheerleader…I am very impressed. Max has a real movement started and should be very proud.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/news/local/article_b73da930-eebc-11de-9c25-001cc4c002e0.html
Send your prayers to Michael Badnarick. He suffered an acute cardiac arrest and was rescuscitated by the heroic efforts of bystanders ( Mike Taylor…a raw milk movement organizer) and four very effective and professional Viroqua Paramedics, a police officer and their ER staff. Michael needs all of our best wishes sent him as he struggles for his recovery. His last words before his suddon cardiac arrest were in a passionate speech about essential American rights that included the right to drink raw milk. What a great patriot and American.
I am stranded in Arkansas for a night with delayed and cancelled flights after leaving Chicago one hour late and missing a connection by 10 minutes( 12 of us missed the same conection ). I can not even get back to Fresno. There are no flights. The best I can get is a flight to SF and a ride home from my very understanding and supportive wife. It was worth every bit of this effort to be a part of Wisconsins move to life giving living milk and a living payment for a dairymens liquid gold.
I support good standards for raw milk…just like Washington state and CA…they are nearly identical. I have never suggested a raw milk freeforall. Not sure what you are saying CP….
Legal raw milk in Washington state, pennsylvnia, AZ and CA all must meet pastuerized milk standards with out first being pastuerized.
CP and Lykke….why is it that you absolutely refuse to address the issue of the three deaths from Pastuerized milk in MA at Whittier Farms that occured in 2007? The FDA did nothing about it….is this not important to you?
Raw has been found to be a highly effective immune building food ( Michigan Working Group) yet you do not give raw milk any value for its tremendous healing qualities. Why do you never give credit were credit is due… it is always negative….a true judge gives debts and credits on the great scales of debate….you only give negatives when there are tremendous positives.
All the best and Merry Christmas to all.
Jesus drank raw milk.
Mark McAfee
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/12/victim-profile-the-loss-of-john-powers/
http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/02/articles/legal-cases/listeria-victims-and-their-families-are-the-real-heroes-in-the-whittier-farms-investigation/
Bottom line is that the listeria contamination occurred AFTER pasteurization, as did the vast majority of these:
http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/01/articles/legal-cases/4-people-dead-after-drinking-listerialaden-pasteurized-milk-from-massachusetts/
Hope that helps.
The iron boot of Karl Marx is painfully felt in Canada also! Small raw dairy attacked again. I completely agree David the union lawyers and only union lawyers control our justice system. And lawyers cloak their laws that we [the created legal fictional person] must obey in a legalese language that we have extreme difficulty understanding thus the need to pay them to interpert the laws they write as they see fit. It has been reported that 50% of the worlds prison population reside in the US but we are only 25% of the worlds population. It has also been reported that the US has more lawyers than all the rest of the world combined. Something is wrong with this picture. I am not against lawyers we do have a need for them good ones that is.
I am sorry if I offended you David and you legal folks out there and will respectly stop posting if asked.
The DATCP is overstepping their bounds. Likewise with premises registration for NAIS, which they are enforcing vigorously. Someone else mentioned previously that as the economy goes down, we will emerge victorious. It would be nice if that was how it works, but when governments get broke, they tend to double and triple their efforts to extract fees.
While preparing the latest newsletter for OCFA, I spoke with CJ and Paul of WICFA extensively. I am very impressed with the people of Wisconsin. Band together and you SHALL emerge victorious!
If anyone wants a copy of the newsletter, email me at localvorefresh at aol dot com.
I am very sorry to hear about Michael’s heart attack.
I also do not think that [raw milk] should be sold in retail outlets (Whole Foods, etc) – people should know who their farmer is and see the operation first hand. Selling retail also increases the risks that a casual buyer will purchase a product without fully understanding the pros and the cons.
Here it is fairly modified (by me):
I do not think that processed commodities should be sold in retail outlets (Whole Foods, etc) – people should know what their food is and see the operation first hand. Selling retail also increases the risks that a casual buyer, or today just about any buyer, will purchase a product without fully understanding the pros and the cons.
We in the west are dyed-in-the-wool reductionists. We like to view issues in small, bite-size pieces, and we just wont have it any other way. So we carve out of their context small bits of every whole, focus down hard on them, of course make conclusions from those very narrow exercises, and from there form policies and apply them lavishly. Only an extravagantly over-confident people could be satisfied with such a process.
While we blunder over the vast intricacies of health by ignoring our faltering immune systems, our degraded soils, the astonishing epidemics of diabetes, dementia, cancer, autism, asthma, and on and on, we maintain a phony sense of righteous purpose by creating rules that attempt to corral an endless list of perceived enemies (microbial and otherwise) and simultaneously corral our brothers into the system. When, in the process, we trample over those with broader vision, is irrelevant.
The plain truth is that the current paradigm is destroying our health and making the very agents of that destruction very rich. The ONLY place to find redress is in liberty. Half-liberties, which Marler and so many others now accept (and even promote) as necessary evils, are as deadly as no liberty. They tend only to reinforce the status quo.
I have not seen this first hand, but I tend to believe it. Excessive regulation does not necessarily lead to safer products, because it does not assure more inspection or enforcement of the regulations. It does lead to more selective and punitive enforcement, however, as we see in the case of small, raw milk dairies.
Regulations should not be "open to interpretation" by the regulators. This just leads to the criminalization of innocent, hard-working people.
No offense ever taken-in fact critical (civil) commentary is something that should be embraced.
I ask that, despite the large number of attorneys in the US that we understand that many are dedicating (sacrificing) time and effort to do good. And that, as the movement matures, we keep focused on our goals. The events in Wisconsin this year, as David points out may indeed be a catalyst. The DATCP–on the one had is supporting a variety of small farm operations-I am familiar with–including their artisan cheese and goat dairy initiative as well as grass based farming— yet on the other had engaging in activities that are contrary. It is not just raw milk; I was really appalled at the bizarre logic and justifications for DATCPs premises registration (NAIS) in reading the transcripts from the Emanuel Miller (Old Amish Community) prosecution in Clark County for not complying with mandatory premises registration. I don’t know who the attorneys are interpreting the law and regulations–but it harkens to a sort of cheap horror movie "The Revenge of the C minus Law Students." There is a lot of ferment on many levels on many issues revolving around individual rights and the imposition of regulations.
As Steve has said: "Regulation without representation is tyranny."
Final comment: my extra copy of Raw Milk Revolution goes to our dairy inspector next week, and I’m passing on my copy of Tim. W.’s "Chore Time " DVD (from the FTCLDF) to folks interested in small dairy/herd share operations. Great resources!
Best wishes to all and Live Happy!
I’m sorry. I’m not your slave and you don’t rule my body.
http://blog.timesunion.com/business/dairy-suspends-raw-milk-sales-after-contamination/16660/
Now…wnen was the last death from nanny state approved food you are so enamoured of? Last month? Last week? Today?
You wander around picking the low hanging fruit to more easily fill your bank account…low hanging fruit not due to it’s dangers, instead because of an assumption of danger based on FDA and CDC lies.
Since Lyyke won’t directly answer the question, why don’t you take a shot at it? Where in the constitution is the government given the authority to make our nutrition decisions for us?
David, I really try to bring a bit of rationality to the discussion here, but I fear some of your readers would rather yell at each other. Bob, please stop making assumptions about why I do what I do. It is simply not productive.
Re: where in the Constitution (similar language in State Constitutions)- See Article I Section 1.
"All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives."
Congress and/or State Legislatures have over time enacted laws (legislative powers) and/or given power to the Executive branch to enact rules (regulations) for a wide variety of activities – including public health. You may not agree with some of them, as is your right. You can work productively to change who the legislators are, or work through other legal processes to accomplish your goals.
Your rants are both boring and not at all useful.
Merry Christmas.
http://www.marlerblog.com/2009/04/articles/legal-cases/raw-milk-outbreaks-2009-update/
Again, you can always read this on the comparison I did between raw and pasteurized milk:
http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/uploads/file/Comparing%20Food%20Safety%20Record_Revised(1)(1).pdf
And, here was some research on outbreaks when the milk was not properly pasteurized or cross-contaminated after pasteurization:
http://www.marlerblog.com/2008/01/articles/legal-cases/4-people-dead-after-drinking-listerialaden-pasteurized-milk-from-massachusetts/
Grab a big glass of eggnog and read these.
In regard to lawyers, besides the judge being a lawyer, Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle as well as DATCP Secretary Randy Romanski are both lawyers. I believe respect will need to be shown to lawyers if raw milk policy is to advance. Judges hate to have cases they decide reversed on appeal or repeatedly sent back for technical issues. Insisting Max have a lawyer allows the judge to focus on the issues in the case rather than possible legal errors or procedural violations that easily can foul up a case.
http://www.marlerblog.com/2009/12/articles/case-news/science-and-eggnog-raw-eggs-and-alcohol-can-a-favorite-holiday-drink-be-made-safe/
Amanda – so, what if they used raw milk too?
Good to hear from you…at last you rejoin this discussion and we have someone that likes to deal with numbers and facts and addresses issues and uses his real name. I really enjoy, respect and like that about you.
Dr. Ron Hull was part of a huge study that looked at all the creameries in Australia. The study found that 66% had listeria in their invironmental tests. It is an established biological fact that listeria does not do well in environments that have organic acid producing bacteria dominating the ecosystem. That is why listeria is found so frequently in pastuerized milk and other cooked and processed foods. The data on listeria found in or causing illness in raw milk is scant and very few. The CDC shows plenty for thermalized raw cheeses, but they have been heated and do not have their good abacteria active anymore. I have reviewed the FDA and CDC data base for raw milik illnesses…yes raw milk can make some people sick…agreed. But…what is not fair or helpful is the fact that this data includes raw milk that was not intended for direct human consumption and was instead intended for pastuerization. The data also includes pastueriizer failures. We must all agree to get the classes of raw milk correctly categorized before we can start to look at the numbers. By definition….any post pastuerization illness or data when collected from milk that was intended to be pastuerized should not never be combined with data collected to reflect issues about raw milk produced as intended to be consumed raw….two different standards and raw milks!!
Bill…please agree with me that "there are two raw milks in America".
"One for people and one for pastuerization". Clearly CA law shows this to be true….
If we can at least start at that point…we can make some seriously great progress.
When raw milk is produced under well considered standards and farmers that know what they are doing and know that the end use will be human consumption…they produce raw milk which is far different than raw milk produced with out any concern for human health or pathogens because it will be pastuerized and commingled with many other dairies milk.
As a christmas gift to reason and the season….will you agree with that statement.
I will also completely agree that raw milk when produced under perfect conditions for human consumption is not perfect and is far different than pastuerized milk which is far from perfect as well. Pastuerized milk is associated to a 50% incidence of diarrhea and LI when consumed by the general population. Raw milk on the other hand is biodiverse and each human can react differently to it…but this human consumption type of raw milk is not a risky food….far from it. It is not mentioned by the FDA or CDC in the top ten risky foods in America. It is very safe and most importantly will build a very strong immune system for its consumer and protect against other foods that contain pathogens nearly all the time ( deli meats, chicken etc). Not to mention the emerging spread of bad bugs and viruses that love weak immune sytems.
Would you consider a food that causes gas cramping and diarrhea in 50% of those that attempt to consume it to be safe??
Perhaps this a great new class action lawsuit for you?? Cut me in on this if you go for it.
May your Christmas and New Year be blessed with a strong immune system.
All the best,
Markl McAfee
Merry Christmas!
i haven’t read all the links; I am so behind. But wanted to tell Miguel that I’m not advocating registering producers as legal persons – I just want an amendment that says they are free to produce raw milk and raw milk products on a contractual basis.
You don’t seem willing to compromise with government at all. You are a true libertarian! I tend toward that thought as well, but not nearly as idealistic as you. What happened to "of the people, for the people, by the people"? Do you believe that goal is hopeless?
-Blair
To the Smiths at Meadow sweet, I’m sorry if I was wrong in saying that you argued "raw milk" when you say you didn’t – it was the impression I got from reading about your story. It seems that an LLC, though, isn’t a possible or even a good way to circumvent a law – it is a corporation created by the state of NY, so they’re going to want to regulate it, no? Maybe if you took your payments in Ithaca hours it would be okay with Albany.
Of course our friendly Seattle lawyer’s eggnog is made with raw eggs and raw milk and home distilled booze and freshly grated nutmeg, eh~
If I celebrated Christmas in December, I’d wish you all a merry one.
Boy…lawyers and judges hate to see someone familiar with that come into court.
http://www
Ron Paul and Michael Badnrarik and Thomas Jefferson all disagree with you IMO.
Is there such a thing as a "legal fictional person" which is not a "human being" is it true that those of us that hold title to our homes only own the building but not the land it rests on and even tho we have title to our cars the real owner is the state from which we must obtain permission in order to travel?
What are adhesion contracts and are they valid if we have no ideal what they mean when we sign them? Why are there gold fringes on our flags in the nation court rooms some say it is because they operate under what is called The Law of the Sea or Merchant Law ect.? Some say our birth certificates our marriage license and our Social Security numbers all place us under contract law which is a bit different than Constitutional Law that relates to the human being.
I am truely not sure what the answer is to all these questions may be but I fear the answers are not good. Would you or perhaps could another lawyer here clearly explain the truth so us folks that are subjected to these things will correctly understand? Thank you
Legalism is a strict focus on the law which more often then not caters to our arrogance and pride. Devoid of compassion and reason it circumvents Christs new commandment of love and often leads to extreme philosophies that undermine individual freedom, ultimately leading to human right violations.
Is the general conduct of todays legal profession a reflection of the intelligent fool. Are its members any different then that of Pontius Pilot and the Pharisees during Christ time who engage in self serving, self righteous, petty legalism?
Ken Conrad
Perhaps just maybe to many lawyers are so entwined in the justice system and all the procedures and all the papers they shuffle that they are unable to see the flaws that we on the outside looking in perceive as being totally unjust. But of course we don’t speak Legalese maybe we need to learn this foreign language and then could help bring real justice and plain common sense back to the court system for the good of WE THE PEOPLE.
FYI if you haven’t seen these things already.
The Wisconsin Alliance for Raw Milk on Facebook (with a great pic of David with a bullhorn!):
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&gid=229022049416
And, Patrick and Melissa Monchilovich have been granted a re-trial in their WI Premises Registration case. Here’s the article with supporting legal documents:
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2009/12/24/wisconsin-independent-consumers-farmers-assoc-wicfanews-alert/
Thanks!
If the best excuse Mr. Marler can come up with for restraints on legal behavior is, See, theyve been doing it for years! then I think we have won the fight. It is now just a matter of time before liberty is once agian our first rule.
(By the way, waving about again the age-old argument that the status quo is reason enough to spoil the future, is truly boring.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Now I wish all the best in this season of hope to David Gumpert, whose interests, energies, and talents brought this forum into being, and to Mary Martin (my first Complete Patient friend), and to all of you who here have lent time, heart, and mind to the causes of health and liberty! I, for one, have learned far, far more from you than I could ever have done without you. For that I am forever grateful.
Dave
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm194121.htm
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119638
We attended a dairy meeting last week sponsored by the Michigan Extension service. The question–never answered–when electricity costs hit 28-35 cents per Kw and propane (or oil) based costs are three times current rates—how will dairies be able to effectively afford the energy inputs to meet current grade A sanitation standards and others to even afford current pasteurization standards? Is anyone looking at viable options or will the excess costs be passed on to increasingly distressed customers? Can health goals be met with standard operating procedures that are not as energy intensive-or dependent as those currently on the books?
Eyes glazed over……..
One of the reasons we chose to form an LLC was a hypothetical our local lawyer posed: if an LLC member offered milk to a guest, then the guest got sick and sued the LLC, the liability limiting component would prevent the suer from going after the wealthiest member of the corporation. So it sounded to us like a good way to protect members from mistakes by us or other members. From our current perspective, that hypothetical is much less probable than we thought when we were starting.
We’ve become aware of other quirks in LLC law besides the NY registry bit and if we had to start over would seriously consider the herdshare/cowshare contracts devised by the FTCLDF.
Our primary goal in forming the LLC was to take the distribution of raw milk private amongst a small group of rawmilk-educated families that would not have to individually travel to our farm to get milk. What we were extremely naive about is how seriously the industry views such activity as a threat to the control of their market and the depths to which they would go to protect that market. (It seems like there may an inverse correlation between the size of the dairy industry in any state and the success of raw milk liberalization efforts in said state.)
All the briefs for the appeal of the Meadowsweet Dairy case are now available at http://meadowsweetfarm.com/.
To your credit you are asking a question that challenges current protocols, but I would suggest that the form of your question, or more accurately, the model of thinking that brings one to ask it, is flawed, and therefore any direct answer you receive will be flawed as well.
Our reductionist view of the world channels us into a pattern of identifying isolated problems and looking for solutions to those isolated problems. But nothing in nature is so linear–all things are interconnected. (Understanding the interconnectedness of all things is, of course, the definition of holism.) Questions emanating from the linear approach naturally create linear answers, and are therefore, in the long run, unhelpful. Such answers predict results outside of natural contexts. That can never happen!
The cost of farm inputs is really a significant factor only when the farm is run in a non-holistic, linear fashion. Example: Animals + animal buildings + feed (purchased, or harvested with planters, pickers, dryers, grinders, storage) + processing + transportation = commodity cost. But if a farm is run holistically, the inputs are most all natural, and have no cost. They are not, in other words, finite resources, but infinite, or self-regenerating. (Caveat: I say this only generally, recognizing that holistic farming expenses for such as labor and fencing are real. Nevertheless for this little discussion, for simplicitys sake, and because natural-input costs are dramatically smaller than unnatural-input costs, I am ignoring them.)
What are natural inputs? Solar energy, and secondarily, macro and microbiological energy (for birth, growth, and decay). These are the natural inputs of a holistic farm, and they are endlessly free.
When we simply and honestly notice how natural systems work, and adapt to them, we need no longer worry about input/output dollar divergence. We simply make the most of solar and biological forces, and reap their fruits. If, on the other hand, we invent and employ non-natural, linear food systems, we can solve their problems only by tweaking the linear production chain–producing merely another direction of linear movement–and in the end profiting neither the farm, the earth, or the humans.
Hopefully that sort of talk does not make the eyes glaze over!
We have no excuse for anyone ever going hungry even if the worlds population doubled. Our problem is we are violating truely simple laws of farming and care of the soil and the finger of blame is directly pointed at the so called complex society that modern man so loves.
Thanks that was very encouraging.
My name is Bill Anderson, I am a cheesemonger and apprentice cheesemaker, and friend of Scott Trautman’s. I just wanted to let you all know that Scott has chained himself to WI governor Jim Doyle’s mansion, as of about 4pm (Central time) tonight. Below is the email he sent off before doing this.
My fear is that Scott is acting on impulse, and that his message will not be clearly conveyed. The problem is that Scott has had his retail license for selling his grassfed meats revoked by DATCP without explanation, the very regulators responsible for the current crackdown on raw milk.
I believe that it is possible to fight back against them on both legal and PR fronts, but I tried to talk him out of doing this lockdown today. I’m not opposed to a lockdown at the governors mansion, in principle, but it needs to be well-planned and executed to be effective. I fear this will not be, but we shall see… anyways, here is the email. I hope the best for Scott while he is out there on this cold stormy night.
-Bill Anderson
Hello everyone,
This was not what I intended to do this Christmas. This is not making my family, my wife, three young children, happy one tiny bit.
But the evil in Wisconsin is so great, the intensity of pressure on our farm so massive, I am left with no other option.
Cheryl Daniels and Jackie Owens of Rod Nuelstein’s DATCP, Department of Ag Trade & Consumer Protection, Food Safety division, has attempted to torment us over the past two months, trying to make me shut up about the illegality, the scandal, the misuse of power up there. Their plan is to intimidate, and they have succeeded in removing, unjustly, our last ability to make a living: our meat licenses. Which of course I am welcome to appeal: To Rod Nuelstein. How do you think that’s going to go? When do you think he’ll make time for that? That is but one indication of how out of wack – out of control — non-democratic – that agency is. The meat licenses have nothing to do with their Raw Milk case. There is but one purpose: shut Scott Trautman up. Their arrogance is incredible.
Our media has a limited attention span, which Rod understands, and has used: to sound great in the word, but no one follows up to see just what he does.
Perhaps a farmer chaining himself to the governor’s MANSION and refusing all food and water will be enough of a "media event" to bring the proper light to this situation.
I am not asking anyone to join me at this time, I do not desire to ruin the holidays of good people everywhere — but I will be ‘on the wall’ for as long as it takes.
99 Cambridge Road
Madison, WI 53704-5961
(608) 246-5501
See my posting for further details, look back – way back – to all my blog postings, way back to the beginning, and see my character vs. Rod Nuelstein’s.
I am ashamed of our Governor, Doyle, whom I was under the illusion was a friend to the people of Wisconsin. Turns out he’s just another scumbag politician.
http://www.localharvest.org/blog/15556/
Please pray for me and my family. We WILL endure, we WILL see a bright future for Wisconsin, we WILL have our New Golden Age of Dairy in Wisconsin.
Scott Trautman, Proud Dairyman from Wisconsin
the smiths are not circumventing the law. to the contrary, the state of new york via its agency, its employees, and its judicial system have circumvented the inalienable rights of the smiths and their LLC members to produce and consume the food of their choice. and that is wrong.
let’s hope the appellate division sees it as bill marler sees it, i.e., direct transactions between producers and consumers fall outside the jurisdiction of the government. in other words, the public’s health, safety and welfare are not affected by direct transactions. the conduct is purely private.
i didn’t know you were an abraham lincoln fan!
we probably have critical mass it just needs to stand up and speak out. please.
Gary, you ask:
"do you think a direct transaction between a consumer and a producer should be regulated by the government?"
Hate to sound like a lawyer, but it depends. If you mean a final consumer (not buying to resell into a larger market) buying directly from a farmer, I see little, for federal or state governmental involvement – perhaps only in an advisory way – like agricultural extension. I can also see the need for some state/local inspections in some instances for higher risk products – like raw milk and raw meats.
You might want to send a second bottle to Scott Trautman. A super-sized snuggly is probably not enough in a Wisconsin winter to keep the frostbite down. It’s been dark there for over an hour. Brrrr. Any updates?
You are a brave soul.
But do not do this alone. Get Max Kane and the other 200 raw milk rally participants to join in…it is crazy to do this alone. You will freeze and you will get just a small bang for your frost bite.
You need media support and you can not do it from a chained up location.
Wisconsin raw milk fans…this is your time to stand behind your farmer. Scott is motivated in his heart and over a seriously personal cause…his lifes work and his farm.
If you want Wisconsin to have raw milk you all better go stand with Scott and bring your video cameras and some warmth for him. Make him drink some warm soup and do not let him hurt himself. We all need him to lead the legislative effort this next six months.
God bless you Scott!! You are what built America. I will wear our GET RAW MILK SHIRT AND HAT UNTIL YOU ARE GIVEN A MEETING WITH THE GOV. I am standing with you from CA.
If you are in Wisconsin….better think about this….Scott is taking the raw milk bullet for all of you!! There are times to fight and be counted and this is one of them. Scott is giving you all a Christmas present. His suffering will bring progress but only if you all demand it and stand with him.
Mark
Think of Raw Milk the regulation as if it was related to the FAA aircraft regs.
The ultralites get very little regulation from the gov because the pilot knows the guy next tro him and they have very limited ability to hurt anyone else. ie…small cow shares should be left alone. Everyone knows everyone.
The smaller private planes with 4 -10 passenges get more attention and regulation and the pilot needs a license and more training and the aircraft needs an annual inspection etc. A bigger operation that sells off farm or at farmers markets etc…
The 320 airbus is filled with people and never see the pilot. This needs lots of regulation to assure that the public are safe. ie….retail approved raw dairy products where the consumer may not see the farmer but can surely visit his website and or visit the farm once in a while. There should always be an open gate policy for all raw milk producers.
The FDA should conduct business much the same.
I guess I am just dreaming,….the equivalent of eight 747 jets crash everyday ( the number of deaths from FDA approved drugs, MRSA deaths, Asthma deaths, medical error deaths, etc…) and no one seems to give one little damn.
I vote for the FAA taking over the FDA. At least in the last 75 years fewer and fewer people are dying each year from flight related issues and it is better and better and safer and safer. The FAA listens to its scientists. The FDA kills more every year and it is not even news… they refuse to listen to their scientists.
Corruption really stinks.
The mediterranean diet was found to reduce overall mortality by 50% ( Hale )….the use of Statins reduces mortality by .6% ( and has serious, neurologic and even fatal side effects BMJ ) . Now the FDA is approving statins for normal cholesterol levels.
What the hell is going on here. We have blind madmen and out of control criminals running us over a cliff!!!
I was told once that publically traded companies CEO’s are paid millions per year because normally paid people would never do what is required to make the kind of immoral decisions that they ( some of them ) make. They ( most ) do not care about sustainabilty…they care about making massive amounts of money and getting the hell out of Dodge City with the Loot!!
Mark
Mari Tardiff became ill from campylobacter. It was in the raw milk she received from an unlicensed cow share program in California. The Washington State Dee Creek outbreak also involved an unlicensed cow share program. It doesnt matter if you buy it retail or from a cow share program, raw milk can be contaminated with a pathogen. All raw milk, regardless of how it is sold or shared, needs to be regulated. The only exception I can see is the family cow.
cp
If I am paying someone to care for MY cow, to include milking, why would that give the govt any right to intrude?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norovirus
Norovirus "causes approximately 90% of epidemic non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis around the world,[1] and may be responsible for 50% of all foodborne outbreaks of gastroenteritis in the US." "None of the US Department of Health and Human Services targets [42] regarding incidence of foodborne infections were reached in 2007 [43]."
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cdc-says-most-food-poisoning-is-not-reported.html
http://www.cureresearch.com/f/food_poisoning/stats-country.htm
"Ian Williams, head of the CDCs OutbreakNet group, says that only a tiny number of food-borne sicknesses are even recognized by the public, much less reported to authorities."
If the majority of foodborne illnesses aren’t reported, then the govt really has no clue, only guesses and they aren’t reporting to the public the true "guesses" and causes of food borne illnesses. From what little the media reports, the "outbreaks" have been from the processing end of the "outbreaks", not the victims homes.
http://www.newsday.com/news/food-poisoning-statistics-for-2008-1.1218134?qr=1
Salmonella remains the most common cause of food poisoning, triggering more than 7,400 lab-confirmed illnesses across 10 states the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) used to extrapolate their figures – that translates to a rate of about 16 cases for every 100,000 people."
Out of ONLY 10 states and ONLY 7400 lab confirmed illnesses they come up with an estimate for the whole USA? Common sense would say it was truly higher than 16 per 100000 people. Is this the same way they figure unemployment?
Blair,
Once you realize that there are two faces of nearly everything,it becomes necessary to be more precise in the language you use.Sometimes we are talking about de jure(by law or conforming to law) government and sometimes we are talking about de facto( Exercising power or serving a function without being lawfully established:) government.
It is an accepted maxim in law "let he who would be deceived be deceived".De facto government is the government as long as we do not question whether it is lawful or not.When we know what the law actually says,de facto government is forced to become de jure government.If I refuse to be deceived,any attempt to claim that a de facto government is lawful is lost.Anytime de facto government tries to make a claim against me,I need to determine if this claim is actually backed by law.When I use the word law,I mean common law.Did I cause harm to anyone,damage or take their property ,or be deceptive in a contract with anyone.If I am accused of being deceptive in a contract,there has to be a contract with my signature on it.Common law is there to protect us.When de facto government makes claims against us that are not supported by common law it is acting outside of the law.De facto government cannot make any laws that violate common law.
I am very careful to stay within common law.Just keep the "Golden Rule " in mind all of the time.This is my protection.As far as taxes are considered,I gladly pay those that contribute to the well being of the people such as infrastructure maintenance.I support law enforcement when it is common law that is being enforced.
"doses of BPA to the rats that were equivalent to about 10 times less than the daily amount considered safe for humans….. The Toulouse-based bodys research was also carried out on human intestine cells and revealed the chemical lowered the permeability of the intestines and the immune system’s response to digestive inflammation. They also found that newborn rats exposed to BPA in the uterus and during feeding have a higher risk of developing severe intestinal inflammation in adulthood. "
http://www.rff.org/RFF/Documents/RFF-Resources-172_US_Foodborne_Illness.pdf
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Quality-Safety/Big-gaps-in-US-food-borne-illness-response
"Despite an increase in outbreaks related to fresh produce, only 25 of the 39 states which responded to the survey asked victims about specific produce items. Nearly 60 per cent were unable to link different data sources to aid investigation of food-borne illnesses revealed the study."
GREAT NEWS Michael Badnarik is conscious and has received a pacemaker.
Miguel thanks again for your posts. An accepted maxim in law " Let he who would be deceive be deceive" Anyone wonder why many have absolutely no respect for they that handle the "law and wear the black robes"?
Last night there was a TV program aired titled "Our Broken Justice System" and the title said it all.
What is clear is that a so called pathogen can be present in a species yet not cause illness.
What about the other cow share members why did they not become ill?
Would you agree that there could have been other factors at play that resulted in Mari Tardifs illness and if so why not blame those other factors rather then an organism whos infectious nature is marginally understood and whos natural ubiquitous presence is a given?
People become seriously ill due to the invasive nature of the drugs used to treat the symptoms. I know of two unrelated individuals (a nurse and a school teacher) who within the last year suffered a ruptured Achilles tendons not as a result of strenuous activity but simply because they were administered an antibiotic in an attempt to treat an infection.
Inflamed and/or ruptured tendons are a recognized side affect to certain antibiotics.
Ken Conrad