Govi Double-Speak

NoNAIS.org ^ | 2006-06-06 | Walter Jeffries

[pubwvj]

[I just received an email from NoNAIS reader Gerald in Florida who had sent the Florida Department of Agriculture a copy of the NoNAIS Handout. He sent me a copy of a reply to him from Charles Bronson who is the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Stephen Monroe who is the Florida NAIS Program Coordinator. It is another beautiful example of our official liars at work. Their letter is in italics and my comments are in brackets. As always, feel free to redistribute this article to let people know what is going on and get out the truth. It takes eternal vigilance to combat the disinformation our government is spreading. -WJ]

*May 21,2006 *Dear Resident:

[Ooo... How personal! -WJ]

*We recently received a flyer regarding the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The flyer was from NoNAIS.org. It is apparent that a lot of mis-information is being circulated and I would like to point out some Facts about the NAIS.

[Hmm... He's going to give us capital 'F' Facts...! These are not just ordinary facts, they are special and deserve the emphasis of a capital 'F'. Golly-gee!

More seriously, the government likes to claim that there is misinformation being spread by people on the Internet. The fact is they are the ones spreading the misinformation. See this article for starters about the Texas Animal Health Commission's attempt to spread lies. The NoNAIS.org Handout, which he calls the "flyer", makes no mention of Florida so we must assume that all statements that the Florida officials are saying refer to the USDA's national NAIS plan unless they specify otherwise. Still, read each of their statements both ways and see what you get.

It is odd that Mr. Monroe and Mr. Bornean didn't bother to actually notify me of any errors nor does their letter find any actual errors on NoNAIS.org or the handout/flyer - my contact info is right there on the handout. Instead they simply spread disinformation and attempt to confuse the public. If NAIS were so wonderful it wouldn't be necessary for them to go through all these contortions, lies and to make it mandatory, ever.

I strive for 100% accuracy. I wish the government were as honest. Everything on NoNAIS.org and the flyer/handout is based on the government documents and other sources which are cited throughout. I'm very careful to provide verification to backup what I publish. USDA documents are listed in the "Technical Documents" section of the right sidebar on NoNAIS.org. As it says on the front page here on the NoNAIS.org web site in the left sidebar under "Errors & Omissions": if anyone finds errors, please let me know so I can make corrections. So far, almost all corrections have been a matter of typos - more on that later.

I have had many email, phone and in-person discussions with the USDA officials, state veterinarians and other officials involved with NAIS. In the process of our conversations I have invited them to offer any corrections to factual errors on NoNAIS.org but so far nobody from government has ever told me about any errors on NoNAIS.org. They do read NoNAIS.org regularly and some of them have provided me with some very interesting insider tips for articles. There are a very small number of officials that run around claiming NoNAIS.org is full of lies and misinformation but when asked for details they refuse to actually point out any actual lies. I stand by everything I publish. If you find an error, let me know so I can correct it. This goes for Mr. Bronson and Mr. Monroe as well - this is an open invitation to them.

Given the things the government officials in Florida are telling people, they either do not understand the USDA's plan for NAIS or they are trying to deceive the public. See the posting about the NAISture of Evil for more thoughts on that.

Note that they love to use the little lies such as "at this time", "currently", "no plan at this time", "not yet", etc to describe programs that will become mandatory in the future, will require fees in the future, etc. Be careful of slippery wording and conditionals. And now back to their letter... -WJ]

*There are no plans to charge a fee for the Premise Identification Numbers

[Fact: Maybe not in Florida yet but Texas is charging a Premise ID fee of $20 which lasts 2 years. Maybe Florida will never charge but note that they don't actually go as far as to say that. They merely say they aren't charging fees now. Nothing is sure but death and taxes. You can bet on the taxes. So, is this misinformation, disinformation or a blatant lie by our government officials? -WJ]

*There are no plans to charge for maintenance of the Premise Identification Numbers

[This is really a repeat of their previous misinformation. Maybe they think that if they say it enough times people will believe them.

Even if they don't charge an upfront fee you will still pay for it in taxes because the state and federal governments are budgeting tens of millions of dollars per year to pay for their administrative costs of NAIS. Nothing is free, especially when the government gets involved. Then there are the statutory fines, also mentioned in the handout. Believe me, the government will have fines and penalties because otherwise they can't have a mandatory program and as you'll discover, the program is planned to go mandatory. See below. -WJ]

*There are no plans to charge a fee when animals are moved

[More lovely conditionals - "no plans" but remember they can change that at any time. They leave that option open. Realize that when government officials say they "have no plans" they mean "we have no published plans". There is a big difference. See this article and follow the links to the memo to read a beautiful example of this behavior.

The reality is the government charges fees whenever it can. Once the program is in place expect them to start charging an "administrative" fee to cover "costs" of reporting - never mind that the program is to be 100% electronic submissions (sorry Amish & other non-phone, non-computer using folks) where there are virtually no costs to the government for administration of reporting. It might come in the form of a per-report fee, a per-year fee, etc. The government is always looking for more creative ways to pick your pockets. They will claim they need to finance the program that serves you but remember, you didn't ask for or need the program, it was mandated on to you and then you'll be required to pay for it. NAIS does not serve us - we serve NAIS at the government's behest. NAIS makes unpaid slaves of us all by forcing us to do labor of reporting and tagging animals for the Departments of Agriculture. First they draft, er, volunteer you, then they mandate it, then they start charging for what they forced down your throat. You'll end up paying for the privilege of working for the man. -WJ]

*There is no requirement for reporting movement of horses for showing or recreation activities.

[Fact: On April 11th, 2006 VT House Ag Notes Dr. Wiemers of the USDA Animal ID program stated to the Vermont House Ag Committee that ID's and reporting will be required for shows. The USDA may be backing away from this for "trail rides", throwing the horse owners a bone in an attempt to divide and conquer opposition to NAIS, but they still clearly state that if there is commingling of animals from different premises then reporting will be required. How they will ever enforce this is a mystery. I would expect selective enforcement since the USDA doesn't have enough people to already do their job of meat inspection. Speaking of meat inspections, imagine why horses need tagging like food animals... It is for the foreign horse meat markets. -WJ]

*Some species of livestock are sold in group lots and will not be individually identified

[Fact: To use a Group ID as defined by the USDA requires processing the animals in an all-in/all-out style of operation like the factory farms do with pigs and poultry. This option is not generally available to small farms and homesteaders as they typically have mixed aged animals that are commingled with non-group animals. For these animals individual animal ID's and reporting will be required. This is all per the USDA documents for the NAIS Draft Program Standards:

Page 7:
Group/Lot Identification Numbers (GIN)

Group/lot identification is used in industries where production practices involve management of animals by groups, i.e., animals move in groups through the production chain. In such cases, there is no traceback advantage to individual identification. Instead, groups of animals can be tracked using appropriate group identifiers and production records. In the NAIS, an animal production system would be able to use group/lot identification if the producer is able to demonstrate, through group identification and production records, that 48-hour traceback can be accomplished to all premises with animals potentially exposed to disease. Specific requirements for group/lot identification would vary by species. A unique and standardized number would be necessary to track groups of animals in the national system. The November 2004 interim rule also established the GIN as an official number for the identification of groups or lots of animals. The field specification for the GIN is as follows: 13 characters, combining the 7-digit PIN of the premises where the group was assembled and the date (6 digits) on which the group was assembled (mmddyy) Example: A234567100302 (group assembled on October 3, 2002) If more than one group of animals were to be assembled on a particular day at a given premises, the animals would still be considered a single group for the purpose of assigning a GIN.

Page 33:
Group/Lot Identification Number (GIN):

The number used to identify a unit of animals of the same species that is managed together throughout the pre-harvest production chain. The GIN consists of a 7-character Premises Identification Number and a 6-digit representation of the date that the group or lot of animals was assembled (MMDDYY).

[Group/lot ID is one of their little lies, claiming on the one hand that chickens and swine will be able to be treated as groups when the reality is that only the big producers get to use this cost savings break. The government likes to say this so that people will think they won't have to tag every individual animal. When you read the actual USDA NAIS plan you discover you don't qualify for the Group ID. The reality is virtually no homesteaders or small farms will be able to use Group IDs but will instead be forced to tag every animal and report every event on every animal. The cost savings associated with Group ID's are reserved for the big, rich corporations.

Part of the problem is that the people who have designed NAIS are desk jockeys who have no idea what it is like to operate a small farm or homestead. Another part of the problem is that other people who have been in the working groups are almost all large scale producers and corporate officials who are interested solely in large scale factory farm and feedlot production. Small farmers and homesteaders were not asked to the table, yet these overly complex regulations are being forced on us all. We small farmers make up the vast majority of those who will be affected by NAIS but we did not get to give input or design the program and we don't profit from it. NAIS will be a horrible burden to the small producers. This is taxation without representation. -WJ]

*Currently, there are no mandatory animal or premises identification requirements in Florida.

[There goes that handy lie again: "Currently..." But if you read the USDA's NAIS Implementation Plan April 2006 document you'll discover that soon (in 2009) it will be mandatory nationwide if the USDA get their way.

Also see this newspaper article:

Florida’s NAIS Program Coordinator Stephen Monroe said, We do want to work toward registration of all food species producers and equine owners. That would include every goat, chicken, cow, pig and horse. Full implementation is to have trace back ability for every animal. -BC Standard

Mr. Monroe is telling the press that there is to be a mandatory program - he isn't going to get all food species producers cooperating without it going mandatory. Funny thing, his name is on the bottom of this letter which claims there is no mandatory program! I guess he doesn't think it is misinformation when he says Mandatory is Voluntary. Is this an example of 1984ish Big Brother government Double-Speak? Wow! Wait! I'm getting the hang of this! Let's see if I've got the translation right... Mandatory = Voluntary. Disinformation = Information. You can use Group ID's = You must use individual Animal ID's. There will be no fees or reporting = ... I'll let you take it from there. -WJ]

*The goal of the NAIS program is to enable producers, owners, and animal health officials to control devastating livestock and poultry diseases, should they be introduced into the United States.

[Disease prevention as an admirable goal but NAIS is not necessary nor would it be effective. NAIS is an overly complex and expensive program that violates our Constitutional rights and privacy. NAIS is like using a 100 lb sledge hammer to drive thumbtacks into fine furniture. Animal disease control can be achieved less expensively and more reliably while protecting our rights without this sort of heavy handed government mandate. There is no need for NAIS to be made mandatory and no need for NAIS at the small farm and backyard level. NAIS, as written, is fascist, for the benefit of the rich corporations and a burden to the small farms and rural poor. NAIS should be kept 100% voluntary and market driven. Let the big producers, the big buyers like the McDonald's of the world and meat exporters who want trace-back pay for it themselves. There is no need to burden small farmers or the American taxpayers with one more corporate welfare government boondoggle. -WJ]

*The movement of animals from point of origin through marketing channels has been tracked since the 1940s in many successful efforts to control and eradicate disease.

[All that time we've done it successfully without a program like NAIS that tramples all over our constitutional rights. Gee-whiz! Obviously there is no need for NAIS. Thanks guys for making my point for me. -WJ]

*The phenomenal success of modern animal agriculture in the United States

[Realize that when they say "Modern Animal Agriculture" they are referring to factory farms and feedlots. When they say "control of many diseases" they mean the overuse of antibiotics and toxic chemicals like arsenic in feed by said factory farms and feedlots. This isn't success, it's toxic waste in search of the all mighty dollar - the gold standard of big Govi-Biz. -WJ]

*is due, in part, to the eradication or control of many disease threats. Diseases like Colera, Brucellosis, Strangles, Psuudorabies, Avian Influenza, Vesticulr Stomatitus, Equine Infectious Anemia and many others are almost forgotten about by the gerneral public because of successful control measures. This reduction of disease risk is due to vigilant efforts on the part animal owners and animal health officials.

[All of this was possible to do in the past without having a burdensome system like NAIS. In the past there was some basic respect for the Constitution, rights and privacy. Sadly, this is changing. NAIS is but one of the assaults on our rights and privacy. NAIS violates Constitutional Amendments 1, 4, 5, 14 and possibly 13 as well. There is no need for NAIS, especially not on the backyard or small farm level. Grandma's egg hen is not a threat to public food security. Factory farms and feedlots are a threat. NAIS is specifically designed for the benefit of the large producers yet it puts the burden on small producers and homesteaders. Let them have NAIS and let them pay for it - The burden should not be placed on the rest of us. NAIS should be kept 100% voluntary and market driven. There is no need for government involvement.-WJ]

*The benifits of rapid traceback and containment of infectious diseases have been proven many times around the world.

[Actually, small farmers in other countries are very upset with their versions of NAIS. Their government's are killing off sustainable small agriculture at the favor of big-agri biz. Foreign versions of NAIS are anything but a success or benefit for the public, small farmers or homesteaders. -WJ]

*Some of these diseases like Foot and Mouth Disease,

[Oh, my! They should not bring up the Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) fiasco in England. The British had a couple of thousand infected animals who would have recovered. Rather than doing the right thing and treating those animals humanely they needlessly slaughtered over six million healthy animals in an insane overreaction based on the political "We must do something" knee-jerk reaction and international political maneuvering for trade opportunities. That killing field destroyed England's traditional rural agriculture and resulted in the suicides of many farmers. Heritage breeds were decimated. Britain may never recover. They are now dependent on food from other countries as a result of this error in judgement by their government. They have lost their link with the land and the knowledge of how to produce food is dying with the generation that now has no livestock. Recent opinions are that all that killing, euphemistically called "depopulating" and "stamping out" was all unnecessary. The British government did not need to kill those animals. Wide spread depopulation is now recognized as a mistake. The solution is vaccination, quarantine and import controls. FMD is a excellent counter-example against NAIS.

Then there is the little factoid that NAIS and trace-back would have done nothing to help them in England because FMD is carried by the wind for tens, hundreds or even thousands of miles. A recent scientific report states that FMD may have come to England via dust carried by winds from Africa where it is prevalent. The spore can also be carried on clothing, vehicles and even cured meats like pepperoni. England is a densely populated country. Trace-back would not have changed a thing - Knowing which animals commingled, what trace-back gives you, is useless in the case of a disease like FMD. Same goes for BSE, another favorite example of the pro-NAIS crowd. Bad examples yet the government keeps marching this dead horse out and expecting it to do tricks. Time to set down the whip - that horse is dead.

What they needed to do in England is recognize the fact that FMD is not lethal to the animals. Animals get sores in their mouth and on their feet. They go off feed for a little while. Then almost all of them recover and are subsequently immune to the disease. Don't believe me? Read all about it in the Merck Manual, the standard for veterinary care:

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly infectious viral disease of cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, buffalo, and artiodactyl wildlife species. It is characterized by fever and vesicles in the mouth and on the muzzle, teats, and feet. In a susceptible population, morbidity approaches 100%. The disease is rarely fatal except in young animals

Definition: Morbidity = The rate of incidence of a disease. (not the death rate)

Note that "The disease is rarely fatal". There was no need for the British government to kill off over six million healthy animals. Most of them were not even infected. So why did they slaughter all those healthy animals? Because of international trade issues. Other countries refused to trade with Britain if they had any animals with anti-bodies to FMD because at the time they did not have widely available tests that would differentiate between animals that were immune and animals that were carriers of the disease. Even with that there was no there was no need for this type of over reaction - the same sort of thing we are seeing with Avian Influenza. Now we have those tests. This is the same reason that Britain was not vaccinating against FMD. Depopulation is a dumb idea.

By the way, while we're on the topic of dumb ideas and depopulation topic go read this post about Deadly Euphemisms. Also see this letter from the Vermont state veterinarian which states that Vermont for one is moving away from depopulation. Good news. I hope Florida's officials are as wise. -WJ]

*Classical Swine Fever and Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis have been introduced into the United States but hav been eliminated through the coordinated efforts of animal industries working with veterinarians and animal health officials.

[Better border control, quarantine of incoming animals and the like is much more effective and less costly than tagging and tracking every single animal in the United States. Of course, that would not provide as many jobs for Department of Agriculture personnel and increase the empires of the Ag officials... -WJ]

*Many consumers want to know the origin of their food and food products. Buyers are paying a premium for source-verified livestock in response to this trend.

[Then why the Flying Duck has the government been blocking Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)?!?! Why have they been blocking BSE testing?!?! There are far cheaper and more effective ways of getting food safety than NAIS. -WJ]

*Identification of premises and animals in marketing channels will help U.S. producers maintain access to domestic and international markets.

[Wonderful. It is good to know where your food comes from. But we don't need to get government involved. For example, Sugar Mountain Farm customers buy direct from our farm. They know exactly where their food is coming from - our pastures. They can come by and see their dinner out in our fields any day of the week. They have no need of an overly complex government system to add to the costs of their food bill. They don't need a hidden tax on their food. I don't need an invasive government program that micromanages my life and invades my privacy. I have a direct relationship with my customers.

This can even be done on a supermarket scale: if buyers want source verified trace-backable meat then they can offer to pay a premium for it. There is no need for an expensive government mandate or fees and threats of horrific fines to small farmers and homesteaders. If consumers want to know where their food came from, they should buy from market driven programs that provide source verification. That is good old capitalism - it works.

This brings up the topic of greed: McDonald's corporation is a big backer of NAIS. Why? Because they want source verification without having to pay a premium for it. Right now the big buyers like McDonald's have to pay a premium for trace-back. That is how it should be. You want extra services, you pay for it. This means more money in hard working farmer's pockets. Micky-D reasons that if they can get the government to force all farmers to do trace-back through mandatory NAIS then they won't have to pay a premium anymore. If the special service, source verification a.k.a. trace-back, becomes standard there will be no premium for the farmers.

On the home level, there is absolutely no need for source verification when homesteaders are raising animals for their own table. They know exactly where the food came from, what it was fed and how it was raised. NAIS will amount to a hidden tax on food of approximately $500 per family. This burden will be placed most heavily on the rural poor who can least afford one more hidden tax so that the rich corporations can benefit.

NAIS is not about disease, it is about profits for the big corporations. Small farmers already provide source verification. Homesteaders already have source verification. Big producers see it as a marketing tool they can take over and abuse like watered down "organic standards" which used to mean something. Source verification is a bogus argument for NAIS that is being used by the big corporations to destroy their competition (small farmers) at taxpayer expense. -WJ]

*There has been a lot of dicussion and input from industry regarding this voluntary proram.

[From Industry but not from the little people who will be most brutalized by NAIS. That is changing though... The USDA has now received hundreds of thousands of letters from small farmers and homesteaders. Let your voice be heard! See the right sidebar Contacts section of NoNAIS.org. -WJ]

*The USDA has hosted listening sessions throughout the country and continues to seek industry input as they develop the program.

[The listening sessions were for the large stakeholders and not widely publicized. Small farmers and homesteaders were never invited. It isn't that they don't know who we are or where we are. I was contacted for Premises Registration and for numerous USDA surveys as were many other micro-farmers and homesteaders. I get mailings from the federal and state agriculture departments several times a month. They know how to reach me and other small farmers yet we never got invites to listening sessions. Why? Because they don't value our input. We aren't an economic force. We aren't valuable. We aren't "large stakeholders". In the words of Vermont Department of Agriculture Secretary Steve Kerr, he is most interested in the big dairy producers who represent 85% of the agricultural production in our state. I guess the rest of us can just kiss off as far as they're concerned. -WJ]

*Your comments, and those from food animal producers, would be welcome.

[Oh? Maybe now that we are making a stink about it and now that Congress has said they won't release funds unless the USDA is more forthcoming. Previously the USDA and state Departments of Agriculture couldn't care diddly-squat about our comments. -WJ]

*The USDA has established NAIS working groups to provide recommendations and input. To provide input, please send an email to animalidcoments@aphis.usda.gov.

[Uhm... the Florida state officials are giving you the wrong email address there. It is really this: animalidcomments@aphis.usda.gov

Now that was a simple typo you might say. Of course they were not purposefully falsifying information and trying to prevent your comments from being heard. They just left out an 'm'. Yet, by doing so they would make your comments to the USDA get trashed or bounce back at best. Many users would give up and not know how to reach the USDA. Mr. Bronson and Mr. Monroe, the Florida state officials, need to be more careful about giving out misinformation. Accuracy is beautiful. Perhaps that is why government is so ugly. -WJ]

*Your comments will be directed to appropriate working group.

[Sadly, the working groups are more harmful than helpful for small farmers and homesteaders who keep livestock in a traditional manner. The USDA loves the working groups because the working group leaders are filtering out opposition to NAIS. But real people hate them. Just take a moment to cruise the discussion lists and forums across the net (see the List Discussions in the right sidebar of NoNAIS.org). The working groups are not listening to the very real problems that NAIS represents for real small farmers and homesteaders.

The working groups are predominately made up of the large producers and corporations. The little guys, the small farmers and homesteaders, are greatly under represented despite the fact that they make up the vast majority of the people who will be affected by NAIS. What will result from NAIS is a consolidation of our national food supply into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporations. This will increase our dependance on petroleum, lead to less competition and higher prices, centralize our food supplies and make us more susceptible to terrorism, disease and natural disasters. What we need is exactly the opposite: decentralization and more independence - that will lead to better quality food, more competition, better prices for consumers and greater national security.

There is no need for NAIS. It violates our Constitutional rights and invades our privacy, It is an overly complex system that is specifically designed to benefit the big, rich corporations while placing the burden on small farmers and homesteaders. The USDA and government should get out of the picture entirely. NAIS should be kept 100% voluntary and market driven. -WJ]

*Again, the NAIS is a voluntary program

[Again, that is now but it is the future we are worried about. See the USDA's April 2006 document where they state specifically on page 3, paragraph one that should we not comply, they will force NAIS down our throats as a mandatory program. Voluntary means we have choice. There is no choice with NAIS - if we don't 'volunteer' we will be drafted. More Govi Double-Speak.

Contingency Plan
This NAIS implementation strategy provides the opportunity for the stakeholders to take a proactive approach to achieve full industry participation in the NAIS. If the marketplace, along with State and Federal identification programs, does not provide adequate incentives for achieving complete participation, USDA may be required to implement regulations. USDA will evaluate whether the participation levels are increasing at rates that will achieve full participation by 2009. Based on that analysis, USDA will determine if the market-driven incentives, along with industry “buy-in” for improved animal disease programs, is resulting in adequate participation and growth rates for NAIS to be successful by the established target dates. If participation rates are not adequate, the development of regulations through normal rulemaking procedures will be considered to require participation in certain aspects of the program. The public would have the opportunity to comment on any proposed regulations.

The USDA is pretty clear about this. NAIS is voluntary now but USDA Secretary Mike Johanns has stated that it "will become mandatory in the future." No if's, and's or but's about it. Think about it for a pico-second: why the heck do they need a "Contingency Plan" to a "Voluntary" program? -WJ]

*and Florida currently has no plans to make the program mandatory or charge a fee for these services.

["has no plans" right now but you can bet the farm that they will change it in the future. This also doesn't fit what Mr. Monroe has told the press. Mandatory is in the plan unless we submit in which case we have 'done it voluntarily. Right... Is this Mafia style Voluntary? Is he just confused or lying through his teeth? I hear there are water moccasins and alligators in Florida - any relation to these officials? Blood relatives or just by predilection? -WJ]

*Although the USDA's draft strategic plan references mandatory requirements in 2008 and beyond, to date no actions have been initiated by USDA to develop regulations which would require individuals to participate in the NAIS.

Eeeee...DING! Wrong answer! Again! See the USDA's NAIS Draft Strategic Plan. Florida's state officials need to examine page 2 where it specifically states above the time line:

Inclusive – APHIS is developing the NAIS for various species and must make the NAIS mandatory at a specified date to drive investment and progress.

Also refer to the April 2006 USDA document with the following updated timeline:

Operational Milestones:

• August 2005: Achieved Operational Premises Registration Systems
• March 2006: AIN Management System Operational
• June 2006: Cooperative Agreements with Private/State ATDs
• February 2007: Private and State ATDs and ATPS Operational

Benchmarks for Progress:

• January 2007: 25% of premises registered
• January 2008: 70% of premises registered 40% of animals identified
• January 2009: 100% of premises registered 100% of “new” animals identified 60% of animal <1 year of age have complete movement data

The USDA is driving NAIS forward toward mandatory implementation with a very specific time line as outlined in the USDA's Draft Strategic Plan and as restated in the USDA's April 2006 document.

Do not take your Florida state officials' word for anything. They don't appear to actually understand NAIS and what they are saying is full of misinformation and half-truths. I would like to go as far as saying they are lying, but that is a matter of intent I suppose... Read the documents yourself. Look for the links to the USDA files in the right sidebar under Technical Documents on the NoNAIS.org web site. Until the published regulation proposals are changed drastically we are in peril. -WJ]

*Please contact me if I can be of any assistanc.

[Typo there at the end. Note that I have not edited the government's text to correct this and their many other typos. Mr. Bronson & Mr. Monroe really need to use a spell checker... Are those too difficult to operate for Department of Ag officials? I count eleven typos and spelling mistakes. Can you find more? Janice loves this game. :) You might ask, "Is it fair to make fun of government employees' bumbling?" Yes! I'm not claiming that I never make a mistake... but then I'm just a lowly pig farmer. These guys are professionals. They're from the government. They're here to help us. And that is an example of how they do their job. Scary! -WJ]

*Sincerely,

*Charles H. Bronson
*Commissioner of Agriculture

*Stephen Monroe
*NAIS program Coordinator
*FDACS, Division of Animal Industry

*Please respond to:
*Division of Animal Industry
*Room 333, mayo Building
*Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0800
*Telephone: (850)410-0944
*E-mail: monroes@doacs.state.fl.us
*Website: www.doacs.state.fl.us/ai/

[Now is the time to fight back and stop NAIS. This boondoggle can be derailed. It is overly complex, expensive and a horrible burden on small livestock owners. Ultimately consumers will pay the price in higher taxes, less food choice, poorer quality and higher food prices as control of our nation's food supply is consolidated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporations. Do not be lulled by their lies. If you do not take action now you will see your precious rights and privacy slip away and with them your livestock. -WJ]

Remember: Less government is still too much. -WJ