Missouri Farm Bureau and SB 931

An Open Letter to our elected officials Missouri House of Representatives, Missouri Senate, Governor Matt Blunt

January 29, 2008 By Bob Parker, Texas County Missouri

Dear Legislators and Governor Blunt,

As a very concerned cattle producer in Missouri I am writing to voice my horror in what is happening on the Federal Level and in every State in this Union. USDA along with Farm Bureau and Big Ag interests, as well as Technology companies such as Veri-chip and Digital Angel, [See the membership list of NIAA] have conspired together to create the ultimate regulatory monster called The National Animal Identification System, or NAIS. As a member of Missouri Farm Bureau I was horrified to see that Missouri Farm Bureau President Charles Kruse sent a letter to USDA [July of 2005] saying that MOFB was supportive of a mandatory NAIS and that MOFB also supported the NAIS program going mandatory, this letter said in part;

[ We believe a mandatory Identification program will ultimately be necessary…] [all livestock species listed should be included…[29 species] [The suggested timeline for implementing NAIS is realistic ] MOFB letter July 6,2005

Note; The latest Document on NAIS, the 2008 NAIS business plan, states on page 41 that the 2005 NAIS draft plan that Mr. Kruse was commenting on “ remains the catalyst to achieve a uniform system nationwide and, on occasion, are added to.” In other words, the ’05 draft plan is still the foundation of NAIS.

Believe me, the last thing Charles Kruse wants is for you and Farm Bureau’s members to know about this letter and their involvement in pushing NAIS. Most members I know of that have seen this letter have left Missouri Farm Bureau. I was personally voted off my FB board in Texas County before I could show my other board members this letter after speaking out about it. This letter does not involve the grassroots, they didn’t even know about it or the details of NAIS and most still don’t! I was going to inform the members of this at the annual meeting but was removed so that couldn’t happen. So much for grassroots!

To read more about the expulsion go to;

http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/2007/08/texas-county-missouri-farm-bureau.html

NAIS includes not only forcing livestock owners to register their farms, thereby subjecting themselves to unwarranted searches of their farms by USDA, but also tagging 29 species of animals with computer chips, some of which will be injected into the animal.

Additionally, NAIS will force farmers to report 14 events within 24 hours with USDA via computer or call in. I want you to know that the members of MOFB were never aware of the details of NAIS and MOFB has done everything in their power to cover-up the details of NAIS. I would be glad to come in and personally show you the facts. I would welcome Charles Kruse to be there and have to explain what he has done and how he has covered up the truth about NAIS to his membership. Mr. Kruse has sent letters to MOFB members saying that I am misrepresenting the facts about NAIS, but he has never answered me as to specifically what I am saying that is untrue or a misrepresentation.

Now you all have a letter from MOFB signed by MOFB Charles Kruse, dated Jan 28 ^th 2008 opposing SB 931.

The letter states MOFB policy; “We favor a voluntary (not a USDA or State Mandatory)…

I want to point out that NAIS is currently being rolled into all existing MANDATORY Missouri Dept of AG animal health programs. Just ask Missouri State Vet Taylor Woods. He told me himself that NAIS is being rolled into existing Health programs. The current cooperative agreement between USDA and MO Dept of Ag states on page 26 that premise numbers will be mandatory for import and export of livestock, friends, that will not be voluntary! MOFB has never told its members that!! If they have, where have they? Ask Leslie Holloway or Mr. Kruse for the documents where they told their members this. They do not represent the heart and soul of Missouri livestock owners!

On page 26 it also states Premise ID numbers will also be mandatory for all disease programs, Bovine TB, Brucellosis, Johne’s, Coggins testing, Scrapies, …ALL PROGRAMS!! Remember, NAIS is not just Premise Registrations; it is tagging, chipping, and TRACKING! 48 hour trace back! If you want to know how they intend to get 48-hour trace back you must understand what USDA and MOFB are proposing, but proponents never tell anyone the details until it is too late! Ask MOFB to show you where they have ever showed their members the details of what must be done to get 48-hour trace back! Ask Leslie Holloway for the documents. Ask Charles Kruse for the documents where members are told the details and then want that in their policy. They can’t, and believe me, they sure don’t want you to ask them for it. For the record, for two years I have begged them to tell their members that full story about NAIS, as far as I know, they never have! As a legislator you must ask yourself is this leadership of MOFB really representing their members interests? Honestly, how many farmers that you know would support this if they knew these details I have mentioned? Any?

Farm Bureau mentions that they are going to tell everyone how you vote on this. Your constituents may also have this letter. Which one will carry the most weight? I have no doubt I am telling the truth here and that time will prove me right. NAIS will be implemented in just a matter of months now. Just remember this letter after NAIS is implemented and your Farm community is devastated over the coming years. Will you just do nothing? Will you just talk about saving the farm but do nothing when it really matters? We need you to stop this now, not later. We are out of time…don’t let them tell you we can’t sell any livestock in the future without NAIS. We have gone 200 plus years as a country with out NAIS. Believe me, we will do just fine without it…

Opponents of NAIS have had over 22 meetings across Missouri in the last two years explaining the details of NAIS to the citizens of this great State. We have 12,000 signatures on petitions opposing NAIS. I appeal to you in the strongest of terms. Before you listen to proponents of NAIS, find out what is really happening with this program. I have asked at nearly every meeting how many oppose NAIS after hearing the facts right out of the USDA documents. 99.9% say they do not want this program!

I have been in the livestock industry all my adult life and also as a youth growing up on a farm. Never in my life have I seen a program that will devastate small farms like NAIS will. The costs involved, the labor involved, the liability involved, the list goes on and on.

I have registered cattle and a registered brand. I have always ID’d my cattle. I am proud of what I produce but I don’t want the government coming on my property and fining me and my healthy cattle for lost ear tags or other areas of non-compliance with NAIS. USDA already has disease protocol in place that have eradicated and controlled disease. These programs work. They will even tell you that these programs have worked so well they have trouble tracing animals because we are so disease free. Don’t let them tell you that we must have NAIS to survive, we can’t survive WITH NAIS as small producers.

This legislation, SB 931, will help to keep NAIS from being implemented in Missouri. It must be addressed on the Federal level too. Maybe we will lose this fight. Maybe we will have legislators that refuse to get the facts about NAIS before moving ahead. Maybe small farmers are a thing of the past. Maybe the fight is too big. Maybe the program is too complicated for most to understand until it is too late.

Maybe fascism and Big Government will take over every aspect of our lives before long. Maybe every living thing will be chipped, tracked, and regulated. Maybe the Federal and State Agencies really will take over America as our legislators relinquish their ability to govern with common sense and wisdom. Maybe we will have to have a premise number and chip our animals and report all movements within 24 hours, maybe we will have to have this number before we can buy or sell, maybe the principals that led our founding fathers are too old fashioned for our modern world to understand anymore, maybe our Constitutional freedoms and rights of free exercise and privacy and property rights are outdated, but so help me God, I will fight it until my last breath…

Sincerely,

Bob Parker

Raymondville, MO

417-457-6111 E-mail Bob@bakerealty.com

I will be glad to come and testify at hearings anytime. I do ask however that sufficient time be given to explain this program. This cannot be explained in the 5 minutes usually allowed. There are hundreds of pages of official documents on this program.

For more information about Farm Bureau and NAIS go to

http://www.propertyrights.org/org-act/ED2707.htm

http://xstatic99645.tripod.com/naisinfocentral/id69.html

www.nonais.org

http://forums.news-leader.com/viewtopic.php?p=40081&sid=2820a53fa2cff9ba3334b0655868d889

Whispers

Just had to put in a little video of Mitt Romney getting cues from someone on what he should be saying.

DATCP Posts Incorrect Email Address on Website

This is an update to the post yesterday about Wisconsin and DATCP.

We want to tell DATCP that signing up farmers and other animal owners against their will under proposed rule changes ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin's Animal Health Rules is unconstitutional and they need to stop their proposed rule changes relating to implementing NAIS in WI. The Amish and others who object for constitutional reasons do not want to be added to a National Animal ID System, and have rights guaranteed by the constitution to not submit to a government sponsored ID program. As some one emailed me a few days ago, he just got it, this is Real ID for animals, and property. Many have been emailing that DATCP website has been posting the incorrect email address. While this email was taken directly from the their web site, it has been found to be incorrect and has bounced. Some people report that an alternate address works.

On their site it is listed as melissa.mace@wi.gov and the correct address is melissa.mace@wisconsin.org, or at least that is an address that has been getting through and not bouncing back for some people. This is inexcusable, and I would like to know what can be done and how my legislators can assist, so I have asked them. I urge you all to ask yours. Attached is also a snapshot that I took of the page that proves this information has been out there as incorrect.[I have not included this file - Henny]

http://datcp.state.wi.us/ah/agriculture/animals/health/index.jsp is the full link. Take a snapshot (control+S on a PC) and save this email to send to WI legislators and let them know that DATCP is denying you your right to submit information. I would suggest that anyone wishing to submit comments use the web site today, https://apps4.dhfs.state.wi.us/admrules/public/Search enter (Enter CR07-107 as the search term as directed by DATCP on the same page), but when I try it, it yields no results as well.

If you do an open search for Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection, you can find ATCP rule 17, where you can then log in, and submit comments. Why would we log into a government website? And who knows if the snail mail address is correct? We cannot get our information to the correct people, without compromising our beliefs, so how can we speak?

Or perhaps that is the point.

I don't know about you friends, but I am tired. Not tired enough to lie down, but sick and tired of not being heard, what part about NO to NAIS are these people missing? My parents raised me to respect No, and NO means NO. That is a value that I intend to pass along to my children. Reason number 4309 to keep fighting.

Wisconsin Dept. of Ag, Alert

This is from someone in Wisconsin. This is what is happening in Wisconsin with NAIS. Wisconsin stand UP! Make yourselves heard at the state house.


Wisconsin Department of Ag wants to further criminalize farmers, and some farmers are willing to stand up and say that DATCP is violating constitutional rights by implementing NAIS. Countless refuse to cave, many are hiding in order to follow their personal, and religious rights by refusing to sign up for Premises ID, the first step in the National Animal ID System (NAIS). Amish are selling the herds and stopping farming rather than comply. While my family had been producing food for others, we had to stop in Jan 2006 because of NAIS implementation in WI. Now, even producing food for ourselves without submitting to NAIS in Wisconsin under an unconstitutional law is a crime.

The state legislature gave full authority to the DATCP to create exemptions based on size and type of farm (WI Statute 95.51 [3m]). The Dept of Ag continues to LIE to us and tell us that they want to protect us from disease, yet state statute 95.52 does not mention disease, let alone prevent or protect against it. They will argue repeatedly that they want 48 hour traceback in case of disease, but that is only after you or your animals are ill. They flatly refuse to allow testing for BSE ("mad cow" or other diseases at slaughter, and this law is the first of it's kind in the country, based on USDA rules, to pass as law.

Ag Secretary Nilsestuen says unequivocally in a Sept 2005 letter to the US House of Representatives, "We support the use of RFID technology in all livestock species as deemed effective and appropriate by the NAIS Working Species Groups". He wants all working species to be microchipped and has not recanted this statement in spite of a recent New York Times article that cites numerous studies of RFID tags causing cancer in animals.

What makes Premises ID most appalling is that WI DATCP does not keep the info it receives, they send it along to the Agribusiness Old Boys Network, alive and well and risking your health and safety in WI. Should you sign up, all information gets turned over to a private interest group, the WLIC. A group made up of Cargill, Equity, Digital Angel, Breeding Groups and microchip companies keeps the info.

DATCP now wants to give numbers in spite of resistance, in spite of constitutional rights to not be chipped or give up property rights. A PA lawsuit was resolved in 48 business hours because their Dept of Ag gave away numbers without statutory authority. The COO of WLIC told me personally last year that MI has been setting a great example for animal ID, yet in MI where state Ag authorities come onto land owned by Greg Niewendorp and microchipped his cattle without permission.

Until Thursday of this week, we have By U.S. mail to DATCP-DAH, PO Box 8911, Madison, WI 53708-8911, ATTN Melissa Mace and include subject line Proposed Changes to ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin’s Animal Health Rule.the opportunity to tell DATCP to stop their tyranny, to stop signing farmers up against their will for Premises ID, and to get off the Herb Kohl federally funded NAIS bandwagon.

You can send your comments to: By email to Melissa.mace@wi.gov and include subject line Proposed Changes to ATCP 10, 12 and 17 – Wisconsin’s Animal Health Rules. and tell them that they can no longer get away with tracking and usurping our property rights.

Last spring DATCP tried to sandbag me and 3 others for our opposition, we stood strong with 120 others, how many can speak out this time? The only way we can defeat this is to stand strong, and together. We will have NO local food supply if we allow this NAIS to continue. Here is the information that I have been able to put together on all of this over the past year and a half, it is included in my statements to the DATCP Board in an open hearing earlier this month:

I would like to urge this board to exercise extreme caution. By even considering signing people up against our own volition for the National Animal Identification System, you are walking on a micro-thin line.

As individuals, I would like you to remember that you also enjoy these same protections afforded under the constitution of the United States, and the Wisconsin State Constitution, both of which grant us liberty to free exercise of religion, the right to the use of our name, our papers, and personal property. As a citizen, I promise you that were something this egregious to threaten your rights by another agency, that I would stand beside you and fight with you to maintain those rights.

As a board, I want to remind you that you represent the state, and by considering these measures, the state is usurping personal rights and responsibilities from us as private individuals. I can think of no worse violation that I have personally faced in my life. If you make this move you will be criminalizing freedom, and countless will be forced to chose between obeying the state and obeying their beliefs. This is a fundamental outrage, and a decision that you should not have the authority to even consider.

I think I speak for a majority here when I say that you do not have my consent to sign me, my family or my property up for any program.

With that in mind, I would additionally remind you that we are also aware of the truth. This is not about animal disease; this does nothing to prevent disease, nothing to treat it, and doesn't even address it. Saying it over and over and sending it out in a “media blitz” does not make it true. By using semantics in press releases that are half truths, and lying repeatedly, you do the public a grave disservice.

The National Animal ID System has three steps, the first is Premises ID, the second is tagging all animals, and the third is tracking all animals. The statute 95.51 (3m) allows for exemptions but there are none created. Rather than consider this, DATCP goes to the opposite extreme and now wants to sign up individuals who disagree without consent. A person who owns one livestock animal or more must register with the Wisconsin Livestock ID Consortium, WLIC, not DATCP. WLIC has contracted with DATCP and maintains the database. DATCP also contracts with the USDA to implement NAIS.

WLIC sends the information to Colorado to the USDA database, and registrants are given a US PIN code that is unique to the property. It stays with the property, and there is no way to remove it from either database. The PIN can be inactivated, but records cannot be expunged. Even though it is "confidential" all licenses held (i.e. Milk Producer Licenses) and County Fair attendees, have the US PIN attached and printed on them and are required at most county fairs. Milk Licenses are available in open records requests. This cannot, then, be confidential.

Background Nationally: In 1988, the Livestock Conservation Institute (LCI) hosted the International Livestock Identification Symposium, long before the first outbreak of BSE ("mad cow") was reported in the US. LCI is the predecessor of NIAA, National Institute of Animal Agriculture, and their membership parallels the membership in the WLIC. In 2002 ID/INFO EXPO, hosted by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture (LCI’s successor). "Highlights" of that meeting included a report from the WLIC. This presentation, by Neil Hammerschmidt, now with the USDA and then COO of WLIC, stressed the importance of cooperation on identification and more importantly how it was being accomplished in Wisconsin. The National Identification Development Team, established in early 2002 by NIAA, presented the first preliminary draft of what later would be known as the U.S. Animal Identification Plan (USAIP) and is now NAIS. This is two full years before the law was passed in WI.

Background in WI:

In 2002 WLIC set up shop in WI with a $3.75 M USDA grant procured in part by Herb Kohl. Senator Kohl has Kim Cates as his Agricultural aide, and she is married to Dick Cates, of the DATCP board. WLIC has received (according to their 990s) several millions of dollars to date. ($1.75M in 2007 according to the Cooperative Agreement)

The USDA moved NAIS from Mandatory to Voluntary in 2005 because of public outcry, but in WI, the Premises ID law had already been passed before the spring of 2004. We were the first, and it was passed in just over two months, by telephone vote (according to a taped comment April 25th, 2007 made by Al Ott, Chair Assembly Ag Committee).

Farmers Union and Farm Bureau are members of WILC, M&I Bank, Digital Angel, Allflex, Cargill, and as I continually state, it is a huge conflict of interest for them and to be members. Biotech companies like ABS Global are additional members. They also have ex offico members who include DATCP Board members, the WI state vets, Eihlenfeldt and McGraw, and USDA officials. A former original member is State Rep. Gary Tauchen who also sat on the Assembly Ag Committee. There are in fact 6 RFID tags that are approved by WLIC/NAIS at this time: 2 manufactured by Allflex, 2 by Digital Angel, 1 by Y-Tex and 1 by Global Animal Management. All four are WLIC members. Does everyone see how it is easy realize the fact that this is a conspiracy?

Secretary Nilsestuen's comments at the US House Ag Committee meeting in Sept of 2005 which completely contradict his statements in his May 1, 2007 press release and in the State Journal, because what DATCP does is send the same information out over and over just to different places. The secretary stated that he and DATCP "support the use of RFID technology in all livestock species as deemed effective and appropriate by the NAIS Species Working Groups." So yes, RFID tagging is next, and is already underway if you look at the WLIC web site.

A copy of the Cooperative Agreement between the USDA and DATCP, names Dr. Weimers as the National Animal ID Coordinator. The USDA website confirms that Asst. State Vet Paul McGraw, sitting right here, is the NAIS Administrator to the State of Wisconsin. It's listed also listed on the USDA website.

I don’t see any difference in this than if Merck, Pfiser, Abbot Labs, were to get together with RFID companies, the CDC and NIH and FDA to implement a national database on our children and microchip them all after they have been vaccinated, then bribe the states with tax money to set up a database which would be maintained by the pharmaceutical companies and other private interest corporations.

I fear that we as a race are doomed if you continue on this course, and again urge you to approach this as humans.

Copyright 2006-2008 all rights reserved.

Now or Never…NAIS at the Threshold

©Doreen Hannes

I want to tell you how I found out about NAIS in the hope that you will see how disturbing this is and why we have to fight it with everything we have. In July of 2005, I went to a meeting at the Ava Missouri Sale Barn regarding a new electronic cattle identification program that was to be mandatory in January of 2006 in order to sell cattle in the State of Missouri. Yes, January of 2006. Dr Taylor Woods, a member of the NAIS Subcommittee, was the one speaking. He never said what the name of the program was, nor offered any website where one could go for information. I asked a couple of questions and then made a statement. That statement was, "It sounds like you just want to have complete control of the food supply." Dr Woods replied, "We already do." It is a frightening prospect to consider any group of men in complete control of the food supply, much less a bunch of people who fear microbes. Needless to say, much of what Dr Woods stated was not entirely true. We would not be required to electronically identify our cattle to be able to sell them in January of 2006, and it wasn't really a done deal except in the minds of bureaucrats who hate the fact that we still have this irritating thing called the United States Constitution that needs to at least be given lip service from time to time or chance a full scale revolt.

Then, in late November of 2005 I went into a local feed store, MFA, and was greeted by a flame orange sign on the counter saying "Due to the Bioterrorism Act We must have your name, address and phone number to sell you feed". As creepy as that is, I now had a starting place. In a short amount of time I found myself with the name of the program Dr Woods was talking about, which was indeed the National Animal Identification System, and a whole lot of information on the Bioterrorism Act of 2002, which is basically NAIS for food and feed up to the final consumer. Incidentally, the Bioterrorism Act passed as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, which included the Animal Health Protection Act (the USDA claims AHPA as their authorizing legislation for NAIS) introduced by none other than current Ag Chair Senator Harkin of Iowa. This same man has now introduced the first probable statutory reference to NAIS in the 2007 Farm Bill. Is this a coincidence? Not likely.

The USDA recently released new documents that will make NAIS next to impossible to fight without going on the offensive and filing suit against the Federal government. The USDA states in their Business Plan that in a scant few weeks (February 2008) they will issue a proposed rule to roll all breed registry identification into NAIS. They will also issue rules to roll all disease control programs into NAIS compliant identification standards. Brucellosis, Tuberculosis, Coggin's and Pseudorabies will magically roll right in through the rulemaking process. NPIP for poultry will just roll on in. Scrapies for sheep and goats will simply be turned in to NAIS premise ID without the knowledge or even consent of participants in this program. Certificates of health to move animals across state lines, or even within the state will be rolled in as well. If you get the idea that NAIS is like a bulldozer on steroids, you'd be about right. Remember that NAIS is a three part program with it's foundation being premise identification. You must have a premise id to get an animal id, and you must have premise id and animal id to have animal tracking.

The USDA is busily making Cooperative Agreements with all states and tribes and any non profit organization that will stick it's hand out for the taxpayer money to encourage and probably require their members to enroll in premise id and animal id in order to reap the benefits of membership in those organizations. The states are to help make NAIS compulsory in order to engage in commerce under these contracts. There is an exception allowed for individual animal identification… If you never move an animal off your property other than directly to slaughter it will not require an NAIS animal id, but there is no exception mentioned or alluded to for premise id under USDA's plan.

Meanwhile, our federal level legislators blithely reiterate to us "NAIS is voluntary at the Federal level" and say that they are doing so well because they cut the budget for NAIS. Well, the infrastructure has already been laid, folks. Unless you specifically stop NAIS via statute or a moratorium, it's going to roll over all of our rights through all disease control programs! Why do you refuse to uphold your oath of office? You didn't take an oath to pervert "general welfare" for the benefit of corporations and bureaucrats, did you? Did our forefathers bleed and die so that an agency could require birth certificates on chickens?

Many people seem to have a very difficult time understanding that NAIS is and always has been 48-hour traceback on all livestock. If you want 48-hour traceback, you must have 24 hour reporting of movements. NAIS is not a marketing program; it is being brought to bear at the point of market. NAIS cannot, by very definition, be a voluntary program. The USDA is holding states hostage at the point of interstate commerce by attaching NAIS premise id, and animal id to health certificates and disease control programs. To up the ante even further, they are buying the participation of feedlots, breed organizations, farm groups, youth groups and processors. To move across state lines, or in many cases, even within that state, you will need to be in NAIS. How can that be voluntary?

NAIS opposition has been fairly effective fighting this on a state by state level in a disorganized and haphazard fashion. The original plans called for mandatory in January of 2008 and mandatory with enforcement of all aspects in January of 2009. We've pushed the USDA back, and sideways, but we have not stopped them because the people in positions of power have not had the will to take on the fight.

The anti-NAIS movement has had a grand total of one case filed; and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture backed off just because of the filing. Why are all the attorneys who have stepped into this battle against NAIS not going after the federal government for an injunction or more? The entire program is patently and assuredly un-Constitutional. The USDA is trying to shift all lawsuits to the states by saying "NAIS is voluntary at the federal level" while they push the states into full implementation through perverting the Interstate Commerce Clause.

Certainly, if we still have a Constitution, we can win on simply the religious objection alone. But our arguments go further than even the First amendment. We also have the 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th amendments that are being violated with NAIS. There are issues of unfair competition that will need to be addressed, as well as real estate effects of this program. Why can't we get on the offensive and file suit? We have harm in many of those who were rolled in, or coerced into the program, and they are not all Amish who won't file suits.

We have the Alliance Defense Fund who won the case without even going to court in PA, and the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund, who have taken on Greg Niewendorp's case in Michigan, the Center for Law and Religious Freedom involved in Wisconsin where the Amish have been assigned PIN's without their consent; they have all broken their teeth on NAIS. We have several individual attorneys who are well researched on the subject, and still, no filing on the federal level to stop the USDA from shoving this down our throats. The states of Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin already have mandatory NAIS to a large degree. With the myriad of roll ins (Massachusetts, Idaho, Colorado Fairs, Illinois fairs, North Carolina Fairs and hay, Tennessee hay share, NY calf hood vaccination, Pennsylvania any farm programs, ad infinitum, ad nauseum, etc.) without proper authorization, there is no doubt where this is going. And it doesn't take a degree to see it.

While I readily concede that suing the USDA is not something to be done on a whim, surely if some of these learned individuals could get together and keep their egos out of the way we could find someone with the proper experience and expertise to bring suit against the USDA and get it stopped before we have to fight every single rule they promulgate related to NAIS for every one of the species covered under the program.

This is a plea from one who knows without a doubt that if this program is not stopped that there will be bloodshed…and not just the blood of animals. I am fully committed to doing everything within my power to stop this before it comes to that point. Please, please, stop playing politics and start filing before we have a complete disaster on our hands.

And to the unwashed masses, people like me that is, we cannot and must not fail to call our representatives on a regular basis and let them know we expect them to uphold the Constitution and the principles of freedom we have been endowed with. When we get a federal suit filed, we will need to reach into our wallets and support the one bringing the suit. When we get meaningful legislation to stop this, we must rally support for those pushing for us. It is going to take every one of us in whatever capacity we have to get this thing stopped. Don't wait for someone else to do it, or it won't get done. Your freedom is your responsibility. We have a gigantic secret weapon… there are way more of "us" than "them", and we're right!

Along the Food Chain with Michael Olson…

You can see how we need to be on this show. The misconceptions, oh the misconceptions.

A FOOD CHAIN RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COM

To stop animal diseases, like avian flu, from sweeping through the nation's 1.4 million farms, the Federal government has established a National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

NAIS asks all farmers and hobbyists who husband animals to voluntarily register their premises with government and keep track of the movements of each of their animals. This leads us to ask, "Can small farmers survive NAIS?"

This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain with Michael Olson hosts Vermont farmer Sharon Zecchinelli and Missouri farmer Doreen Hannes for a conversation about NAIS.

Log on the Food Chain page at www.metrofarm.com to listen on your radio, computer or IPOD.

Topics include how a voluntary Federal program is becoming a mandatory state program; why small farmers believe NAIS will drive them, and their support industries, out of business; and how NAIS may discourage individuals from raising their own food.

Question of the Week: Can small farms survive NAIS?

NAIS Updates From the Front Line

NAIS Business Plan

NAIS Updates From the Front Line

© Doreen Hannes

On December 19th, 2007, the USDA issued new documents in the Federal Register regarding NAIS. These are the "NAIS Business Plan" and new "User Guide" which you will find at the USDA's NAIS site, http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/index.shtml. These documents go hand in hand with the Federal Register notice of July 18th regarding the final rule on AIN's called, "Livestock Identification; Use of Alternative Numbering Systems". (search the Federal register for the text)

Reading these documents leaves no doubt as to where NAIS is going and how it will get there. The USDA is to finally be commended for being somewhat forthright in their publications at long last.

To sum it up in a rather succinct fashion, the current game plan is to require compliance with NAIS through the registration of your property as a premise and attachment of NAIS "840" tags to your animals as a requirement of engaging in interstate commerce in any way.

Read the rest of this important article here.

Raw Milk Use Share to be Tested this Week

You have to ask yourself why the gubermint is so all over people who are just trying to feed themselves in a healthy manner and at the same time allowing cattle to be imported from Canada and allowing cloned meat and milk (shudder...eew) to be sold into the human food chain without labeling. That's right, cloned meat is deemed to be the same as traditionally bred animals and as such, says USDA, needs no special labeling. Read about it here.

Anyway, this is what I wanted to notify you about, especially if you live in New York. If you live near Albany or Waterloo please make the effort to attend one of these hearings. The gubermint believes we aren't awake or paying attention. It is time for them to be proven wrong.

For more background information about the fight for our right to drink raw milk, please visit The Complete Patient.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PLEASE

Meadowsweet LLC

c/o Steve and Barbara Smith,

2054 Smith Rd.,

Lodi, NY (607-582-6954)

email:dairy@meadowsweetfarm.com

January 16, 2008

Raw Milk Use Share to be Tested this Week

In March 2007, dairy farmers Steve and Barbara Smith of Seneca County, NY dropped their raw milk dealer's license in order to start an innovative cow share program. In an era where the pressures of agribusiness and state regulation threaten the viability of family run farms, the Smiths, who have more than 12 years experience at dairy farming, find themselves at odds with the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FCLDF), a national organization set up to defend farmers and consumers from government interference, has taken on the Smiths' case. The Smiths' struggles with the Department of Agriculture and Markets will serve as a test case to determine if the State's regulatory power extends to a group of private citizens who produce and consume their own food of their own choice.

The Smiths reorganized their dairy into a limited liability company, Meadowsweet Dairy LLC (Meadowsweet) in March, 2007. The dairy delivers raw milk, yogurt, butter and buttermilk to the members of the cow share.

The newly formed LLC has only one asset, a herd of dairy cows. Meadowsweet members have an agreement with the Smiths to tend to, manage and house the herd for the benefit of the LLC. The equity interest for the LLC's 110 members is in the form of raw milk and raw dairy products produced by the cow herd and processed by the Smiths. This is accomplished without permits or licenses. However, the State of New York, through the Department of Agriculture and Markets, is challenging the new farming model.

Since the inception of the cow share, the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets has pressured the Smiths and Meadowsweet LLC. Citing their responsibility to protect public health, the regulatory arm of the agency is being used to harass the dairy. The state agency has conducted numerous inspections, seized products, ordered the destruction of 260 pounds of raw dairy products, attempted to search the Smith’s house, issued letters threatening fines and penalties. And now the Department of Agriculture and Markets has ordered the Smiths and Meadowsweet Dairy LLC to appear in Albany and show cause why the Department should not shut down the operation and levy fines.

Over the next two weeks, Meadowsweet will confront the Department of Agriculture and Markets in two separate hearings. The first hearing will be at the Department offices in Albany on JANUARY 17 at 11AM. This is an administrative hearing within Department of Agriculture and Markets. The Department will consider ordering the Smiths to CEASE AND DESIST from providing milk to its cow share members.

The second hearing is set for JANUARY 22 at 1:30PM in Seneca County Court in Waterloo, NY. At this hearing, the Court Judge will consider issuing a preliminary injunction against the Department of Agriculture and Markets to keep the agency from further harassing the Smiths until the dispute between the newly formed cow share program and the Department is resolved.

January 17, 11 AM
Department of Agriculture and Markets
10B Airline Drive
Albany, NY
(Right next to the airport)

January 22, 1:30 PM
Seneca County Court
48 West Williams Street
Waterloo, NY

For more information contact: Steve and Barbara Smith, 2054 Smith Rd., Lodi, NY (607-582-6954) email:dairy@meadowsweetfarm.com

President Bush hasn't registered his Crawford ranch

An LA Times article this morning about NAIS. Click through here to read the full story.

Farmers fear a barnyard Big Brother

Email Picture

Nathan W. Armes / For The Times

CONTEST: Brandi Calderwood and her steer were disqualified at the Colorado State Fair because she had not registered in the ID program. “It’s just way too much Big Brother,” her mother said.

A federal database of animals to fight disease outbreaks is a threat to privacy and family operations, critics say.

By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 14, 2008

WASHINGTON -- After days of parading around her beefy black steer in the dung-scented August heat at the Colorado State Fair, Brandi Calderwood made the final competition. For months, the 16-year-old worked from dawn well past dusk, fitting in the work around school, to feed, train and clean her steer. But just before the last round, when the animals are sold, fair officials disqualified her.

They alleged that Brandi had not properly followed a new and controversial rule that required children to register their farms with a federal animal tracking system. After heated words, the Calderwoods were told to leave. A security guard trailed Brandi and her mother, even to the restroom.

"Emotionally she went through the wringer and didn't get the honor of showing in the sale. For a 16-year-old, that's a big deal," said Cathy Calderwood, Brandi's mother.

A Bush administration initiative, the National Animal Identification System is meant to provide a modern tool for tracking disease outbreaks within 48 hours, whether natural or the work of a bioterrorist. Most farm animals, even exotic ones such as llamas, will eventually be registered. Information will be kept on every farm, ranch or stable. And databases will record every animal movement from birth to slaughterhouse, including trips to the vet and county fairs.

But the system is spawning a grass-roots revolt.

Read the rest of it here. And be sure to drop a thank you email to the author.

Language is a virus

Have you noticed some subtle word changes? I saw a commercial on TV last night for a charity group. They put a fitness park in a poor neighborhood. When the camera panned to the area it wasn't anything more than a playground. A playground now being called a fitness park. There's another commercial on TV expressly for telling kids to go outside and play.

Another commercial I've seen and wondered about is one for Clinical Strength Secret. It is for prescription strength wetness protection. Add that to another product that promises to make your underarms soft and desirable. And still another commercial selling Depends to young women, new brides, pregnant women.

What is the world coming to?

Five Minutes with Chuck Jolley

Jolley: Five Minutes With Sharon Zecchinelli & Doreen Hannes

Click here to read the full story.

I wrapped up 2007 with a series of interviews with people who are backing NAIS. It was an interesting and well-read series – even if I do say so – that explained in detail all the reasons that make animal identification a good idea. Sharon Zecchinelli contacted me, though, and demanded that the scales be balanced. “There are reasons it is not a good idea,” she said.

Here is the salient point: NAIS is a controversial subject, a coin with at least two sides. On close examination, we might even have to count the edge of the coin and call it a three-sided argument.

There are contingencies of small farmers and hobbyists who don’t like the idea. Not one bit. They see it as an unnecessary intrusion on their rights as private citizens - as a money grab by big business at the expense of the little guy - maybe even creeping socialism. One person harrumphed about the insanity of trying to ear tag chickens – she was stretching a point to make her point, of course.

But not to be tagged myself (as a slanted journalist, not an NAIS chicken), I invited Zecchinelli to stand in for the anti-NAIS groups and speak her piece. She agreed and invited her friend, Doreen Hannes, to participate. Their answers were impassioned, detailing the reasoning behind their position. Read on. It’s interesting stuff, whether you’re for it or ‘agin it’

Q: Sharon, let's establish your credentials, first. You're a retired chef who lives in Vermont with your husband, 'a flock of hens, the occasional freezer lamb or pig, horse and two dogs.' You're also an outspoken critic of NAIS. Other than the proud owner of a small farmstead in God's favorite part of the country, what qualifies you to join in the national debate on NAIS?

Sharon: In as much as the USDA calls me a stakeholder and has said my animals are a part of the National Herd, that should qualify me to join in the national debate. I do believe my voice and the voices of all small/private farmers, homesteaders, hobbyists and casual horse owners should be heard, so thank you Chuck, for this opportunity. I speak for thousands of others who are opposed to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS).

My husband and I moved to Vermont in 2001 with the idea that we would raise animals for our own use and consumption. We eventually made the choice to grow meat animals because we wanted to stay out of the industrialized agriculture system. In these days there is no guarantee of clean food, certainly not like it used to be.

The main thing, though, that qualifies me to join the national debate is that I have read every document, press release and all the Federal Register documents that USDA has issued with regard to NAIS. I even attended, at my own expense, NIAA's ID Expo in 2006 to learn firsthand about the program. It was there that Dr. John Weimers told me personally that he would drive every back road to find every backyard flock and tag each chicken. It was also there that Indiana's State Vet Dr. Jennifer Greiner said to me she couldn't sleep at night thinking I would be eating diseased meat, that being my own sheep.

Q. Doreen, tell me about your background and what are your qualifications to enter this fracas?

Doreen: We own a homestead in South Central Missouri, and raise livestock for our own pleasure and consumption as well as for sale in the open market. We began to build up a dairy goat show herd and raise calves, and pigs on the extra milk, and then the ugly specter of NAIS reared up and stopped the dream of a family venture into quality show stock cold in its tracks. Because our faith will not allow us to take this type of mark in order to be able to buy or sell, we cannot and will not engage in NAIS in any way shape or form.

One thing that helps qualify me to join the national debate is that I have actually read the documents… from the international SPS and TBT and OIE guidelines and discussion drafts down to all of the USDA docs; both the PR firm releases and Federal Register documents as well as the definitions of the terms used in the documents, to be sure that I understand what is being said.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Boohoo, oh Hillary.

So Hillary has been a Feminazi for all these years but suddenly finds it appropriate to cry and talk about ironing and baking cakes? Don't believe it for a second. When was the last time she ironed a shirt?

The picture I have in my mind of a crying, weeping woman president...not good.

Hillary is responsible for setting women back from being elected president another 50 years.

Important Wisconsin Information

Happy New Year, dear readers. Hard to believe it. Just two more years until North American Union is designed to kick in. Read more about it here, a Google News link for North American Union.

But there is something more urgent to tell you about this evening.

Please visit Family Farm Defenders for more information.

The Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) recently announced a series of hearings for early Jan. 2008 to receive public comment on their proposal for the next implementation phase of the federal National Animal Identification System (NAIS) in Wisconsin. We strongly encourage folks to participate in these hearings and to spread the word to others who will be affected by this draconian state surveillance program that is unprecedented - at least in U.S. history.

For the official DATCP hearing notice that includes these NAIS provisions,click here

If you can not attend in person, you can also submit written comments to DATCP. Better yet is to contact your elected officials, write a letter to your local paper, call into talk show radio, and otherwise publicly express your opposition to this program. Based upon our experience organizing farmers and their allies, if even one person speaks up there are about a dozen others who feel the same and then find the courage to add their voice, too.

DATCP's Hearing Dates and Locations:

Monday, January 7, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Fox Valley Technical College 1825 N. Bluemound Drive, Room A160 Appleton, WI 54912

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection 2811 Agriculture Drive, First Floor – Room 106 (Boardroom) Madison, Wisconsin 53718

Thursday January 10, 2008 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Department of Natural Resources West Central Region Headquarters 1300 W. Clairemont Avenue – Room 158 Eau Claire, WI 54701

As many of you may know, Wisconsin has become a national battleground state on NAIS. DATCP and its partner WLIC (which actually administers the program as a private subcontractor) have received millions in taxpayer funding to bring this program into existence, and now many bureaucratic jobs and corporate contracts depend upon its implementation. When over 10% of WI dairy farmers refused to voluntarily register their premises, the state was unable to make good on their threat to pull milk licenses since the state's economy could not afford to criminalize so many productive farmers overnight.

Nonetheless, DATCP is now denying milk licenses to new dairy farmers, including many Amish who strongly oppose NAIS for religious reasons, even though grass-based Amish dairy operations are one of the fastest growing segments of the entire industry. The proposed rule change would also allow the state to register farmers against their will and without their knowledge.

Worse yet, we know that DATCP/WLIC intend to move towards mandatory RFID chipping, phase two of the federal NAIS program, despite recent scientific studies revealing that RFID chips cause cancer, and thus pose a health threat to both livestock and people. A farmer in MI recently had sheriff deputies under state orders enter his land to place RFID chips in his cattle against his will. And then there is the disturbing story of the Faillace family in VT, documented in the book "Mad Sheep," where a USDA led SWAT team invaded their farm to seize and destroy all of their animals wrongly suspected of harboring some prion type disease.

Family Farm Defenders has been an outspoken critic of NAIS for years now, and recently helped form an organization called Free Wisconsin Pastures with the purpose of filing a lawsuit against DATCP/WLIC if necessary to stop this absurd program from destroying the future of farming in our state.

Of course, we would rather NOT have to take this issue to court, which is why it is so paramount that family farmers and others concerned about the future of agriculture in WI exercise their democratic freedom to express their opinion and let our elected officials and DATCP bureaucrats know that NAIS is not acceptable in any form.