Posted on 03/17/2009 4:05:03 AM PDT by Man50D
Some small farms and organic food growers could be placed under direct supervision of the federal government under new legislation making its way through Congress.
House Resolution 875, or the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in February. DeLauro's husband, Stanley Greenburg, works for Monsanto – the world's leading producer of herbicides and genetically engineered seed.
DeLauro's act has 39 co-sponsors and was referred to the House Agriculture Committee on Feb. 4. It calls for the creation of a Food Safety Administration to allow the government to regulate food production at all levels – and even mandates property seizure, fines of up to $1 million per offense and criminal prosecution for producers, manufacturers and distributors who fail to comply with regulations.
Michael Olson, host of the Food Chain radio show and author of "Metro Farm," told WND the government should focus on regulating food production in countries such as China and Mexico rather than burdening small and organic farmers in the U.S. with overreaching regulations.
"We need somebody to watch over us when we're eating food that comes from thousands and thousands of miles away. We need some help there," he said. "But when food comes from our neighbors or from farmers who we know, we don't need all of those rules. If your neighbor sells you something that is bad and you get sick, you are going to get your hands on that farmer, and that will be the end of it. It regulates itself."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Maybe this threat to our liberty has an upside in that we are starting to be proactive about a barter system; milk and cookies for a gardern, eggs for an appendectomy, who knows where this could lead :>)?
Obama’s revolution is moving too fast. 2012 will be here before you know it and we don’t have a national voice to bring together some of the little “3rd parties” around the country like the Constitution party, etc.
Who is going to police this, make arrests, and issue summonses at the individual gardener level? Obama’s Hitler Youth? Shades of Ukraine, circa 1920.
This is chilling. Read literally and strictly, this legislation would criminalize neighborhood and other local level sales and transfers (barter?) of garden produce and slaughtered food animals like chickens raised in backyard coops. In other words, when TSHTF in the aftermath of the Obamassiah’s sledgehammer “tinkering” with the engine of the free market, this law will make everyone who tries to survive by going local an enemy of the state.
It just occurred to me that this proposed legislation would only effect crops and livestock that were explicitly raised and sold as “food”. It wouldn’t effect animals or plants raised for other purposes, such as wool, feathers, decorative eggs, weed control, insect control (which some breeds of poultry are QUITE good at), etc.
So, say, if you sold a dozen eggs that were specifically labeled as “not for human consumption”, along with instructions for hollowing out the egg and using the shell for artwork, then clearly you are not selling “food”. Its not your fault that your customer decided to scramble them instead.
Good tactical thinking!
I know someone in California who owns an herbal tea shop and that’s what she does. The FDA started hassling her, so on her labels she added “Not for consumption; not for medicinal purposes” below the directions for how to boil and make the teas used to heal your aching liver and other assorted body parts.
“This is about Monsanto insuring a revenue stream. Bank on it.”
Yes, Monsanto wants to be the Goldman Sachs of the Department of Agriculture. Just trying to further their monopoly on seeds and other material that farmers use. They are the ones cramming GM products down everybody’s throat.
Everyone is already an enemy of the state. That is the point of all the rules and regulations. Once that is set up, they can take their time picking folks off.
In the aftermath of SHTF, there will not be enough manpower, gasoline, ammo, or vehicles to police the entire country, not to mention that cap and trade is going to make asphalt expensive and the roads are likely to go to hell. They will, perforce, have to concentrate their security forces in the elite areas to protect the rulers and their supporters. Those folks need to eat. Eyes will wink, elbows will nudge and much will be overlooked or ignored completely. For a cut, of course.
Seems to me that the illegal drug trade and before it, Prohibition, thrived under extreme government enforcement of laws banning their product. Food being essential, people will go to great lengths to produce and procure it.
In my state, when they licensed massage, the key regulation was about charging for it. So, the unlicensed (often untrained) massage practitioners simply stated that they would accept whatever free will offering anyone cared to give. No one was ever brought up on a violation in the past 10 years. If I want to gift someone with my dried tomatoes and if, sometime later, they decided to gift me with something, who knows about it? How can that be regulated?
While we are all potential or actual enemies of the state, they have to catch us and prove it. While that could be accomplished with tribunals and withholding of income or by taxation, again, it takes an army of workers who would be just as easily corrupted as their masters. It is expensive for little return to go after the small home gardener, who is already suitably cowed, as it is. Plus, I have had occasion to deal with bureaucracy. First, a potential snitch must wend their way through the automated voice menu and then they must reach someone with authority and the requisite human corps to actually do something. After that, it is anyone’s guess if anything is done about it, since it is much easier to forge records and pretend something was done. Many laws, such as the employment of illegals, are handled in just that manner already.
I suspect these rules will be mainly enforced against the CSAs, artisan cheese makers,small condiment facilities and the farmers’ markets, at least to begin with. In my area, these are all ardent zerOids. The larger organic farms already employ illegals with impunity. They have lobbyists and many, many non-profit organizations that can be mobilized. This administration tends to float trial balloons and then back off when the screams begin. Rules get changed and important constituencies get left alone. They have denied that the military spent brass will be mutilated for scrap instead of being resold, for example, and that was not because they fear the 2nd, but, IMO, because it was pointed out to them that it was going to cost the government a lot of income.
The best thing about this regulation is that it will first bite the zerOids. They will pay to play with campaign contributions. Goal accomplished.
The government knows the peoples militia will be fed by the rural community and the rural community can make urban populations very restless if food shipments were reduced.
The government wants to regulate independent food production. they want the population to be all dependent on them for the daily bread.
Bad people will have their rations cut in half by executive order per BHO.
Yeah the rose garden is being converted to a watermelon patch.
They can use satellites to look for certain vegetation. Cover a lot more territory and are harder to shoot down.
bttt
The DOD backed off from their short lived policy of destroying all brass from firing ranges.
That is the main reason why 223 and 308 ammo became so scarce. The brass was not being recycled into civilian hunting rifles.
Potato guns have pretty good knock down potential.
But I like the bean shooters that shoot multiple beans with one CO shot.
Think about a golf ball at 2600fps. If a tennis ball can be launched at 300 mph and penetrate plywood, what would a golfball do at 25yards? White beans in a 12 ga. shotgun shell are a real deterent also!
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