The NAISture of Evil

NoNAIS.org ^ | 2006-06-01 | Walter Jeffries

[pubwvj]

Just yesterday I was talking about this issue with one of my chickens. We were trying to figure out the nature of evil - where evil lies in the hearts of NAIS and men.

On the one hand we have the beef exporters who push NAIS so they can reach foreign markets like Japan. This was the origin of what has become known as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) which is the USDA's proposed plan for tracing the birth to death movement of every animal in the United States. I point out that Sam Sarpy, a rancher in Montana, argues that it is really the packers and not the independent beef porducers. The beef packers didn't push for it to be to the backyard or to make it mandatory on everyone so Henny Penny said they aren't evil and I agree although with some reservations. They are opportunists who continue supporting NAIS as a mandatory program which will hurt others. NAIS could simply be a market driven, voluntary program for people who want to sell to buyers that require trace-back like McDonald's or Japan. There are also the big beef organizations like LMA, BeefUSA/NCBA R-CALF and SDSGA which are opposing NAIS being made mandatory. That is heartening. Henny and I agreed that this segment isn't truly evil as a class.

On the opposite extreme we have the RFID tagging companies that saw a huge market and push it to be for all animals to the backyard so they can make profits by mandate. 9,000,000,000 tags per year times $3 each. Holy Cow!!! That's $18 billion dollars a year and it is almost entirely profits!!! They are forcing it all on you and me through backing a mandatory regulatory implementation of of NAIS. In addition to the RFID tag makers there are all the suppliers of software, hardware, etc dedicated to this. Evil by the sin of greed. Henny concurred, no contest.

McDonald's is definitely in the evil camp. They want NAIS forced on everyone so that they won't have to pay a premium for trace-back. That's fascist. If they want a service of their suppliers, farmers, then they should have to pay for it. Having the government force Premises ID, Animal ID and Animal Tracking down our throats so that McDonald's can save a few pennies per burger is plain wrong. This puts them in the company of Monsanto and other truly evil corporations that will screw the world for a penny. Again Henny agreed. That was an easy one she said.

Politicians are harder - they are all over the map. NAIS is getting support and opposition from both sides of the isle. Our dark sith lord Senator Patrick Leahy from Vermont, a Democrat, and Arlen Spector from Pennsylvania, a Republican, pushed for NAIS. Talk about forbidden love! They are definitely evil pushers of the dark side trampling over small farmers and homesteaders for the benefit of big producers. Other Dems and Republicans support and oppose NAIS so we can't make this a clear cut partisan issue. There are bad guys and good guys on both sides of the isle. We also have super politicians like Congressman Ron Paul of Texas - I wish I could vote for him. The only good class of politicians we were able to identify were the libertarians, some of whom are certifiable I said. Henny said that I was too so the point is moot. I reminded her that in Vermont we had some very good state level politicians from all parties that had gone to bat for us and effectively muzzled the Vermont Department of Agriculture on NAIS. It seems we can't label politicians evil as a class although some of the individuals are Evil with a capital 'E'. I told her that I would write my reps again for her if she would help stamp the envelopes. She reminded me to always vote on the issues and not along a party line - good advice.

The working groups are a definite mixed bag, too. Theoretically they represent us but most of them sure aren't representing the views of me or any other small farmer I have spoken with. The animal working groups seem to almost all be coming out pro-NAIS. This is very discouraging and strange, especially from the heritage breed groups. I think that some of the people on the working groups will benefit personally from NAIS going through and put them down to the sin of greed. Henny wanted to know why small farmers and homesteaders didn't get any representation. She said that was evil on the part of the USDA to not work with the people who will be most adversely affected by NAIS. After all, truckers, the RFID industry and other big 'stakeholders' got input. Somebody needs to speak up for the small livestock owners. My poor explanation was that we were too small for the policy makers to see, that we don't contribute enough to the national and global economy. As Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Steve Kerr put it, he's looking out for the interests of the Dairy Industry because they represent 85% of the economic agricultural output of Vermont. Henny pointed out that small farmers vastly outnumber the big producers by a factor of over a hundred to one. She's right and homesteaders represent even more people. As a voting block, if we can just wake up, we are powerful indeed. Henny suggested we need to make up a voter's guide to NAIS and I pointed out my Naughty and Nice list in the right hand sidebar. She said that was a start.

Henny thinks I need to go protest at the capital. I explained I had gone to the hearings and spoken but that didn't make her happy. I tried to get the topic back to the existing work groups like the truckers and RFID tag makers having such a big say but Henny kept wanting to know what I was doing to form a work group so I could make policy. I'm working on it but it isn't easy breaking in with the heavy players. I'm not sure I even want to be near them with their stink of greed.

I tried to calm her ruffled feathers but she kept clucking under her breath about chicks and the things she wanted for them. She's afraid of them growing up in some factory farm. I assured her that wasn't possible, she's an old colored heritage bird and the factory farms only accept applications from the modern white chicks. That did not make her happy. She started going on about how NAIS was the end of the old breeds, that there would be discrimination and extinctions. It broke my heart to listen to her because I knew it was true. The small farmers, hobbyists and homesteaders are what keeps the heritage breeds this side of extinction. What is odd is that the State of Vermont has passed a law to recognize, promote and protect the heritage breed of Randall Line Back Cattle yet they aren't protecting the farmers who are needed to care for those cattle. Instead we get taxed out of existance, even with the Current Use program, and burdened with more and more heavy handed mandates like NAIS. Very odd indeed. There ought to be a law to protect our traditional rights to farm - otherwise there will be no heritage breeds left.

The bureaucrats are scary. Some are just following the drummer and I argued they are no better than Nazis troopers. They were evil by following an evil leader. Henny agreed, laughed and made some jokes about 'der evil leader'. She pointed out that if we could find a new drummer the evil leaders' minions could be saved. Bureaucrat leaders get a little fuzzy. Many of them are empire building. For the little Caesars, NAIS means more funding for them which means more people in their departments, which means more salary and power for the top bureaucrats. I feel that is evil but Henny disagreed. She said that they were just bird brains and too narrow minded to know the destruction they were doing to our country. In other words she is using the excuse of stupidity to excuse evil behavior trying to differentiate between intent and behavior. I find that lame. They are greedy and evil because they use their power to hurt other people same as the RFID companies. To paraphrase my favorite movie character, "Evil is as evil does."

We then got to talking about people who know something is wrong but sell the junker anyways. We both felt that was a clear cut case of evil. It doesn't matter if they are empire building, trying to build up a monopoly or just doing it for hourly wage - it is greed in the employ of evil. Doing bad things knowingly is evil and the sin of greed applies as well.

Henny then reminded me that there are some people who genuinely believe that NAIS will lead to better animal health. Henny and I had some words about them too. She thinks they can be brought to the light - chickens are Quakers and big on this light thing. She argues, persuasively I must say, that with enough rational persuasion we can get these people to see that it isn't necessary to mandate NAIS all the way to the backyard. It is impractical and not cost effective to force NAIS on everyone. We talked about 80% solutions for a while. Both of us agree that a few hens in a rural area are not a threat. 100% compliance isn't necessary. A two tiered system of commercial anonymous production vs direct sales or home consumption would be workable. The question is how do we get that across to the policy makers. I suggested she write some letters but she reminded me that I was the only one who could read her hen scratchings. I promised to translate and retype her letters for her.

Another groups is the large segment of the population that is simply apathetic. Where do they fall on the spectrum of good vs evil? The city folk who buy their food in the air conditioned national supermarket and don't want to think about where food comes from. What is their responsibility? What about the farmer who feels overwhelmed and says "if the government's gonna do it they're gonna do it." How about the person who thinks it must be good if the USDA says so. They do evil through inaction but will suffer from the action. Hard call - evil or not?. If only we could wake these sleeping masses - Once people understand about NAIS, 90% are strongly opposed.

One thing we totally agree on is that 10-kilometer, or any size, depopulation kill zones of healthy animals was dumb. Henny was particularly emphatic about that. She feels very personal and passionate about this as she is the subject being depopulated. I argued it was a bad idea scientifically, not practical, destructive of local rural economies and uneconomical. More over, if the Ag Departments push a policy of depopulation then livestock owners are going to be loath to cooperate with the government. They will stop reporting sick animals. This could actually result in more disease problems. NAIS could take a system that already works well and make it worse. I explained to Henny that our state, Vermont, is moving away from depopulation. She said that was progress but she was still worried they might change back. All this seems so fluid.

That upset Henny quite a bit and we had to stop the debate - She had to go lay an egg. I got back to chores and we haven't been able to pick the discussion up since then. Tomorrow I'll try and ask the pigs what they think.