[Radigan]

Another example of the decline of freedom and being mugged by the government. Shouldn't be surprised anymore at stories like this. However, everytime I read one it angers me just as much. Would like to write our Washington State senators but that would be a futile effort as they are both confirmed socialists (democrats).

http://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/

[FreePaul]

A politician's primary job is to get reelected. His secondary job, which is necessary to perform job one, is to reward his friends and punish the enemies of his friends.
In this case : friend = major financial contributors.

[FreePaul]

A politician's primary job is to get reelected. His secondary job, which is necessary to perform job one, is to reward his friends and punish the enemies of his friends.
In this case : friend = major financial contributors.

[Red Badger]

I've always wondered, why a gallon of milk costs more than a gallon of gasoline. The oil comes form the other side of the planet, whereas the cow is standing in a pasture down the road. The oil is refined in a highly dangerous and technical operation whereas milk is just pasturized and homogenized, but its still milk.............

[steenkeenbadges]

The following was told to me by an old timer named Travis:

"The dairy "industry" has been up to this kind of dirty trick for decades. When margarine first came out, it was the dairy industry that forced the makers of margarine to separate the fat from the food coloring. They forced customers (there were no "consumers" yet) to hand-mix the food coloring into the white fat portion. Just to humiliate and denigrate margarine makers and create a "better" image for butter.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

"Yet the feds, backed by the biggest dairy processors in the West, want to force Smith Brothers and other do-it-yourself dairies to sell through the government-regulated system."

First, keep in mind all the loafers that want to suckle at the government sow's teat--the USDA Food Stamp program REALLY has helped them over the years (yes, there are people who NEED staples but the Food Stamp program for decades let them purchase non-BBQ convenience foods like TV dinners--and LUXURY items like lobster tails, I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN.)

Meanwhile, these smart, hard-working entrepreneurs create a racehorse of a business and the gummit wants to turn it into an ox to plow in the USDA harness. Health and safety are important, but with 40,000 customers (apparently happy and healthy!) there is no AMERICAN reason for the Orwellian Ministry of Farm Bureaucracy to cr@p in their water trough.

I'm a man but if this was my business this would put my tit in a wringer too! USDA has long been WAY too big for its britches and it's time to rein them in.


BTW don't let any slight humor in this post detract from the RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION and call for action.

[MrBambaLaMamba]

Simple solution - Shut down all the North American dairy farms and only allow the sale of dairy products imported from China or India. Do it for the sake of the children.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Would like to write our Washington State senators but that would be a futile effort as they are both confirmed socialists

They're ALL socialists. They just call themselves by different names, but it's still the same God-forsaken religion of Socialism.

Cows & Politics Explained

A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.
A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
AN AMERICAN REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what?
AN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous.
A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage.
DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. They are mad. They die. Pass the shepherd's pie, please.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them.
A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship both of them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported on them.
AN ISRAELI CORPORATION: There are these two Jewish cows, right? They open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So, who needs people?
AN ARKANSAS CORPORATION: You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute.
A MEXICAN RANCH: You have a herd of 500 cows. 495 have foot "in" mouth disease, just like the President of Mexico.

[old-ager]

http://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/

[Paul C. Jesup]

Since the socialist writer of this article falled to admit the exact reason this milk company is going to go bankrupt, I take it probably going to go bankrupt because it will no longer get any more taxpayer subsidies.

If that is the case, I how no problem with this so-called business being plowed under.

[IrishCatholic]

bookmark for later printing

[goodnesswins]

Hey....I just looked at your profile page.....did you move to King County already? Have you figured out which is MORE liberal, Bellingham or King County.....

Thanks for posting this.....I'm a 3rd generation native of King County (well, took 12 years off, in Oregon)....and LOVE the Smith Brothers Milk Trucks I still see running around.....the Valley is fast becoming CEMENTED for the future, but Smith Farms still survives....and smells...LOL.

[TrailofTears]

Unfortunately the feds fought and won this battle back in the 1890's concerning interstate commerce and farming. They don't have a ghost of a chance beating the govt on this one.

[fella]

What party was in charge when these rules to help the little famers were put in place?

[CDHart]

I am financial manager for a rural 60-bed skilled nursing facility. Medicaid pays us less per day than what it costs to care for people, so we rely on private pay residents and county taxes for the rest. A recent federal regulation thought up by some idiot bureaucrat requires us to install a sprinkler system for any OUTSIDE area that is roofed and is within 48" of the building wall.

In order to comply (a word I hate), we had to spend $7,000 to hook up the front porch as part of the existing sprinkler system.

How much good could we have done for our residents with that $7,000? Instead it went to comply with a reg thought up by someone who was trying to justify his bureaucratic position, IMO.

Carolyn

[snowsislander]

We can all thank FDR for this socialist nonsense at the federal level with dairy.

I don't personally think the federal government has any call to be involved in the milk business, and certainly not with the heavyhanded shutting down of successful businesses just because they don't fit the USDA's view of the world.

[Feiny]

I hate corporate welfare & protectionism. The feds have no business doing this....but somehow that never stops them.

[TChris]

Farmers and ranchers are typically very conservative... until you talk about their farm/ranch. Then, the quasi-socialist tradition of government price controls and handouts are -- pardon the pun -- sacred cows. I'm personally all for good ol' capitalist competition at that level just like every where else.

[freepatriot32]

Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here

Not to worry all people have to do is vote straight republican ticket in the next election and put republicans in the white house senate and congress and as soon as the republicans area majority all thise intrusive bloated federal goverment garbage will stop over night.especailly if you elect george bush to the presidency it will stop because george bush is a reaganite conservative you know /HEAVY SARCASM

[traviskicks]

Our Federal Government is criminal. These dairy farmers should arm themselves and tell the crooked and corrupt Federal government, 'You want to regulate us come and get us'.

A little something on farm subsidies:
http://www.neoperspectives.com/farmsubsidies.htm

In North Dakota, Farmers Wary of Cuts to Subsidies (Update 4/5/05)
4/4/05 Washington Post sob story on the plight of farmers in North Dakota in light of the Bush administrations timid 5% cut in the bloated farm subsidies. A few ideas for a more accurate headline:

'Corrupt Government reduces massive Citizen Swindle by 5%, Special Interest Complain'

'Thieving Farmer Groups demand more money to be Looted from Honest Citizens'

'Bloated and Desperate Farmer Groups bribe Congress to continue Stealing'

''Generous' Government might spend 5% less of the money ripped off your family to support a Special Interest Group'

'The US government, with a 'Conservative' 'Republican' President and 'Conservative' 'Republican' Majorities in both houses of Congress, will continue to imprison US citizens if they don't continue to pay 95% of Farm Subsidies'

'Criminal Congress continues to break the 8th Commandment: Thou Shall Not Steal'

'Apathetic Populace Complacent over Continuing Thievery, Seem to respect the Governments right to sell the fruits of their labor to the Highest Bidder'

'Looney Farmer Groups claim Citizens benefit from being Extorted'

'Government Mafia shakedown might be cut by 5%, Farmer Groups Complain to sympathetic Media'

'Constitutional Violation by Congress over Farm Subsidies Continues'

'Congressmen not Seen as Criminal, Reelected despite Continued Public Pillaging'

Besides a poor choice of Headline, this Post article does not accurately describe what is actually occurring or arrive at the proper conclusion - like this one from 'Causes of Poverty in Developing Nations':

For example, the governments of the United States and Europe will imprison their citizens if they do not pay the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes that these governments then return to small, often wealthy, farming interest groups. These bloated subsidies allow farmers to price their goods below market price (although in reality they are actually above market price), thus preventing developing nations from exporting substantial foodstuffs to developed countries. These farmers then donate some of the money the government stole for them back to the politicians that orchestrated the theft.

This is, by any definition, a criminal act, if not legally (in this case the thieves are making the laws), certainly morally. However, individual farmers actually do have a right to be livid at the Federal Government. Why? Because other special interest groups are, in turn, robbing them of billions of dollars each year too! If all of these thefts were eliminated it is entirely possible that farmers would be better off even without 100% of the subsidies that their political groups have traditionally extorted from their fellow citizens.

In a sense, one can hardly blame the farmer groups; with government so powerful, if you don't have Congress stealing for your side, they'll be robbing you for the other side. In fact, the worst off are those that don't belong to a special interest group that can bribe Congress to steal from everyone else. These unfortunate families get robbed by all these various groups and don't even get the satisfaction of returning the favor! I wonder if the Washington Post will ever do a story on them?

With the Presidency and Congress corrupted and the people apathetic, can the judicial branch stop the madness?

CA Justice Janice Rogers Brown would certainly try. Justice Brown believes:
Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible. <..>
We no longer find slavery abhorrent. We embrace it. We demand more. Big government is not just the opiate of the masses. It is the opiate. The drug of choice for multinational corporations and single moms; for regulated industries and rugged Midwestern farmers and militant senior citizens.

However, Justice Brown's nomination to the DC court of Appeals, one of the most powerful courts in the country, was blocked by Senate Democrats: "Justice Brown, your record is that of a conservative judicial activist, plain and simple," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois. "You frequently dismiss judicial precedence ... when it doesn't comport with your political views." According to Senator Durbin, protecting citizens from elected burglars is a clear sign of a political agenda.

[traviskicks]

From http://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/

Here’s what you can do: Write the USDA
The public has until June 13 to give comments on this change to the USDA. The public has a very large stake in this issue and we at Smith Brothers Farms encourage individuals and officials to stand up against this harmful change.

Go to www.keepmilkpriceslow.org and follow the instructions to comment to the USDA

Tell the USDA not to pass the amendments making producer-handlers pay into the pool. Tell them you are concerned about the health of independent, family-owned dairies and the impact making them pay into the pool would have on the cost and choice for consumers in dairy products. Your opinion counts! Write them today. Thank you.