“Apart from a full-fledged revolution initiated by the people against the corrupt federal government, it is highly likely that Congress will grant the FDA its funding increase, which will effectively turn up the heat of police state tyranny against American farmers and food growers. But the people can still make their voices heard by contacting their representatives and demanding that the FDA not receiving funding to implement the onerous provisions of FSMA.”
(NaturalNews) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested nearly $300 million in additional agency funding from Congress in order to implement the oppressive tenets of the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), which will stifle American farmers and commercial food growers and potentially put many of them out of business. The FDA claims it is having to struggle through “tight budget times,” and insists that a roughly 17 percent budget increase over its 2013 budget will be needed for 2014.
If granted by Congress, the requested funding increase will bring the FDA’s overall operating budget to a massive $4.7 billion for the 2014 fiscal year, which is the highest it has ever been. This is in spite of the fact that FSMA is completely despotic, granting the FDA sweeping new authority over the cultivation, transport, and sale of food, particularly at the local level. As we covered many times in the past, FSMA will allow the FDA to preemptively regulate and control farmers and commercial food growers.” Full Story on Natural News
“Eating genetically modified food is gambling with every bite.”
RawForBeauty.com
“Never-Before-Seen-Evidence points to genetically engineered foods as a major contributor to rising disease rates in the US population, especially among children. Gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, inflammatory diseases, and infertility are just some of the problems implicated in humans, pets, livestock, and lab animals that eat genetically modified soybeans and corn.”
I’d like to point out that in the first article I link below, the author states that it is Republican-controlled legislatures who are responsible for private prisons…this is only partially the truth. Yes, organizations like ALEC and the prison industries they represent generally bribe, er…give campaign contributions to Republican legislators…BUT… they are not at all above bribing contributing to Democratic lawmakers when it suits their purposes. Our very own former Democratic Guv’ner Bill Richardson received more campaign contributions from private prisons than any other policlown in the country at one point. Great shock that as soon as he was in power, private prison contracts in NM expanded, eh? (The REAL shock comes in the 2nd article linked here that talks about the fines our Republican Gov’ner Martinez just slapped our private prisons with.)
Bottom line is that private prisons and all of the various twisted off-spring of the industry are willing to do whatever it takes, work with whoever it takes and pay nearly whatever it takes to keep expanding their slave trade industry and profit margins. It isn’t a matter of Right or Left anymore folks, it’s all about who can be bought and sold…both in our legislative bodies…and out here in our so-called ‘free’ society.
Think Progress, “In an unprecedented experiment fueled by budget concerns, Ohio sold a state prison to Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest private prison corporations in the country, in 2011. Within a year, a state audit of Lake Erie Correctional Institute, the nation’s first privately owned state prison, found rampant abuse and abysmal conditions well below state standards. The CCA prison was given another chance to pass, but flunked another inspection four months later.Independent reports continue to illuminate filthy, broken facilities, as well as much higher rates of crime and violence in and around the prison. On Tuesday, the ACLU of Ohio sent Ohio lawmakers a comprehensive timeline of the prison’s decline since CCA took over.
The Lake Erie prison is now reportedly overcrowded at 130 percent capacity, with single-person cells holding 3 inmates each, according to internal documents obtained by the ACLU. Assaults on guards and other inmates have skyrocketed by 40 percent.
In fact, on the same day the ACLU released their timeline, the Lake Erie prison had to tamp down a series of inmate fights that lead to the confinement of 500 inmates.
Private prison companies have been repeatedly caughtcutting corners on space, sanitation, and staff in order to maximize their profits. As a result, deadly riots frequently break out at these facilities, sparked by poor food quality, lack of health care access, and unsanitary conditions.
Despite Lake Erie’s multiple violations of state standards, Ohio has stubbornly maintained its infatuation with private prisons. The state plans to outsource prison food to Aramark, a private vendor already under investigation in Kentucky for multiple contract violations, including serving old food that had not been stored properly and overbilling the state.
Republican-dominated state legislatures are all too eager to ignore the private prison industry’s dismal record. CCA and other companies like GEO are paying well to maintain their massively profitable government contracts; the industry spent $45 million on lobbying in the past decade. CCA has done especially well for itself, rebounding from near bankruptcy in 2000 to rake in a net income of $162 million in 2011.” Think Progress
—
New Mexico Slaps Private Prison Companies with $1.4 Million in Fines
Prison Legal News – “The departure of Bill Richardson as New Mexico’s governor has changed the previously lax business environment for the state’s private prison contractors. The new administration of Governor Susana Martinez is taking a more aggressive tone in demanding contractual compliance at privately-operated facilities that house state prisoners.
In March 2012, the New Mexico Corrections Department (NMDOC) imposed nearly $300,000 in fines against GEO Group, which operates three private prisons in the state. Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) was also hit with $11,779 in fines for failing to properly staff the women’s prison in Grants.
Those fines were on top of another $1.1 million in penalties assessed in November 2011 due to GEO’s failure to adequately staff the Lea County Correctional Facility (LCCF). According to Shannon McReynolds, inspector general at the NMDOC, GEO Group agreed to pay the $1.1 million fine but was “not completely happy” about it. Additionally, the company agreed to spend $200,000 over the next year to recruit more employees at LCCF.
The penalties imposed against the company in March 2012, also for inadequate staffing, resulted from GEO’s failure to have enough guards in staffed positions at LCCF. There were also noncustodial positions, such as counselors for substance abuse and mental health treatment, that had remained vacant for more than 60 days.
Part of the $11,779 penalty against CCA came from not having enough guards at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility. The largest part of the fine, $7,964.46, was due to CCA’s failure to release 15 prisoners on time. Records indicated that 13 of the 15 were released more than 30 days past their release date.
“These are taxpayer dollars that we are spending here,” McReynolds said. “When we spend these taxpayer dollars on these services, we need to make sure we’re getting those services.” New Mexico currently contracts with GEO Group and CCA to operate four facilities that hold state prisoners.
It was only after Governor Martinez took office that GEO and CCA had to worry about penalties for failing to fulfill their contractual obligations.” Full Article on PLN
An ‘oldie but goodie’ video…well worth the watch time for those not already familiar with the ever-expanding laws that restrict our freedom to decide what foods we can put in our bodies.
Joel Salatin speaks on John Stossel’s segment, “Illegal Everything,” about raw milk, farms, and food freedom. Interview is from 2012.
I must confess that I never bothered to even look and see if our city has an ordinance against having hens before getting our girls a few weeks ago…I honestly don’t care what officials have to say about it; they have no right to dictate what I do in my yard s’long as I am not bothering or harming anyone… and should a problem arise, I will fight to keep my hens…and my personal freedom.
My happy girls, Radley & Boo taking a break on my lap…
(WTHI) – “When you think of family pets, usually a dog or cat comes to mind, but for one Terre Haute family they say their life isn’t complete without the family hens. The only problem is their pets are a violation of city code.
It’s the kind of after school activity you see on a farm, collecting the eggs from the hen house.
“The prices (of eggs) in the store are almost two dollars a dozen with the exception of the holiday,” Kevin Levesque of Terre Haute said.
But the hen house we encountered is located on a backyard farm. Kevin Levesque’s in the city of Terre Haute.
“That was the baseline for it pretty much for more eggs and to teach the kids a little more than just a dog and a cat,” Levesque said.
But a few weeks ago the Levesques were told their hen house pets are a violation of city code; for having farm animals in a residential zone.
“If you look up the definition of farm animal at USLAW.org it doesn’t include chickens,” Kevin said.” Full Story Here
—
—
Excerpt from the Change.org Petition to help the Levesque’s in the fight for food freedom:
“For two years, Various city officials would tell people that as long as no neighbors complained, there was no ordinance against it. Now in 2013, we are suddenly being told that there are such ordinances disallowing chickens and that after 2 years we must now find another place for them. Meaning we must get rid of our family pets that our children have raised from 2 days old and grown to love.
We want the government to realize that chickens are important many citizens of Terre Haute. Major cities across the United States are coming to realize that chickens bring a Green initiative to their cities. Raising local chickens increase food awareness, reduce transportation cost, and supply the community with a level of sustainability. One example of this would be during emergency situations where government assistance can focus on other pressing issues as was the case in 2005 with the massive flooding that decimated so much farm land along the Wabash River and dislodged so many local citizens.
Chickens aren’t farm animals they are beautiful and entertaining pets that provide many benefits. Homegrown eggs are without hormones or chemicals, are higher in nutrients, lower in cholesterol, and taste 10 times better that store-bought. Chickens will eat anything that moves, meaning they eat ticks (that carry lyme disease), fleas, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, stink bugs, slugs, and even mice, baby rats, and small snakes. Chickens are fun, loving, and really should be considered domestic pets…”
If you haven’t already watched it, here’s ”The World According To Monsanto” – it is WELL worth the watch time for anyone wanting to know more about Monsanto and their dangerous influence on our world…
A friend of mine recently mailed me a copy of the book, “Living Downstream” which makes repeated mention of Rachel Carson and her fascinating work in trying to expose the dangers of the toxins we release into the environment by way of pesticides. I must admit that other than occasional short, almost abstract, mentions (even by other bloggers here; see links below) that popped up in my peripheral vision the past few years, nothing fully caught my attention so I had no knowledge of Rachel Carson or just how groundbreaking and important her work really was. I cannot believe I have managed to overlook her for so long…and am even more amazed that Ms. Carson is not a more nationally recognized hero…for a heroic life is most certainly what she lead!
And tho I find myself cringing (again) at just how lousy and lacking my public edumucashion really was and how little I still really know about…everything!…I am also looking forward to delving deeper, exploring more and discovering a whole new piece of history that until now, somehow never made it into my field of vision…
“The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.”
—
—
From RachelCarson.org - “Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, grew up simply in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. Her mother bequeathed to her a life-long love of nature and the living world that Rachel expressed first as a writer and later as a student of marine biology. Carson graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) in 1929, studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and received her MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932.
She was hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the Depression and supplemented her income writing feature articles on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. She began a fifteen-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor in 1936 and rose to become Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
She wrote pamphlets on conservation and natural resources and edited scientific articles, but in her free time turned her government research into lyric prose, first as an article “Undersea” (1937, for the Atlantic Monthly), and then in a book,Under the Sea-wind (1941). In 1952 she published her prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us, which was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. These books constituted a biography of the ocean and made Carson famous as a naturalist and science writer for the public. Carson resigned from government service in 1952 to devote herself to her writing.
She wrote several other articles designed to teach people about the wonder and beauty of the living world, including “Help Your Child to Wonder,” (1956) and “Our Ever-Changing Shore” (1957), and planned another book on the ecology of life. Embedded within all of Carson’s writing was the view that human beings were but one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly.
Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962) she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world.
Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment. Rachel Carson died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer. Her witness for the beauty and integrity of life continues to inspire new generations to protect the living world and all its creatures.
“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less traveled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”
Excerpt, Living Spoonful – “…It was in 1945 that Carson first encountered DDT, which the scientific community had dubbed the “insect bomb” in reference to the atomic bombs recently dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, such was the utter destructiveness of the chemical spray.
Deeply troubled by the use of DDT without further research on its long term effects, Carson was one of only a few voices looking ahead to the “downstream” effects of pesticide use on land, and she was unable to find a publisher willing to take on the issue…
…In 1957, Carson became a champion in the fight against the “fire ant eradication program” – the USDA’s aerial spraying of DDT mixed with other pesticides and fuel oil, which included spraying private as well as public lands. When landowners on Long Island lost a suit to stop the USDA from aerial spraying on their own private lands, Carson was recruited by the Audubon Society to bring public attention to the issue.
It was through the research and connections she made during her work on the “fire ant” campaign that Rachel began to write Silent Spring. Evidence she gathered from her field work and from research at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, as well as from confidential information passed on to her by colleagues and friends still working as government scientists, all painted a picture of ecological damage and human sickness resulting from widespread pesticide use.
It’s a tragic irony that Carson, like so many scientists, suffered personally from her dedicated research. In 1960, Carson was diagnosed with breast cancer, which many have attributed to exposure to the very chemicals she fought to restrict. Although fighting cancer and its complications, Carson found the strength to finish writing her most impactful work.
Silent Spring was published on 27 September 1962, and immediately sparked a controversy among chemical manufacturers, the scientific community, and even the general public. Although much energy was invested into debunking Carson’s research, she was ultimately successful in defending her conclusions. As one of her last acts as a conservationist, Carson testified before President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee, which, in 1963, issued a report largely supporting the claims she made in Silent Spring.
In January 1964, Rachel Carson died of complications from breast cancer. The legacy of her work, especially the work she completed in her last years, cannot be understated. Her biographer, Mark Hamilton Lytle, credits Carson with “calling into question the paradigm of scientific progress that defined postwar American culture.” Many believe her work is largely responsible for inspiring the grassroots environmental and ecofeminist movements that took hold throughout the 1960s.” Full Article Here
—
“Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species — man — acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.”
—
Acknowledging Critics of Carson’s Work -
I am not sure I agree with the above video but wanted to include it to show differing points of view about Carson’s work. I want to read and learn more before I decide what to fully make of her studies…no matter whether or not I end up agreeing with her assessments, I still admire those who stand up & fight for what they believe in!
Yegads…is there ANYTHING left in our world that is safe to consume, I wonder? Most of our veggies are now genetically altered and filled with pesticides….milk is full of steroids and soon, aspertame…and almost all of our meat is either contaminated in one form or another…or on its way to being as genetically modified as our crops. What in the HELL are we doing to ourselves…to our children…to the entire planet???
“The horse meat fiasco in Europe has prodded scientists to look a bit deeper into what else we might be consuming. A team of South African scientists have just found traces of human tissue in meat meant for public consumption from 9 provinces.”
Activist Post - “The horse meat fiasco in Europe has prodded scientists to look a bit deeper into what else we might be consuming. A team of South African scientists have just found traces of human tissue in meat meant for public consumption from 9 provinces.
The issue was revealed to parliament, almost as a side note, during meat inspection briefings on Tuesday.
A University of Stellenbosch scientist and his team conducted a microbial analysis that revealed traces of human elements, but said that slaughterhouse workers sometimes cut themselves . . . or other things . . . which could lead to the findings.
If I walked into a factory and the sample I randomly selected to test was a meat sample of which the person de-boning the meat had just picked his nose and then touched the meat, I would get a totally different microbial reading,” he said.
Delicious. Beyond the findings themselves, it brings up the global hot-button topic of the moment: food labeling. How much should we know about what we are consuming?
In addition to the troubling statements above, scientist Louw Hoffman noted that only 15% of the meat being sold in South Africa is correctly labeled, revealing other potentially harmful attributes of which consumers are currently unaware:
“In the labelling regulations it clearly states that allergens have to be mentioned and noted,” said Hoffman.
Allergens like . . . other people’s genetic signature?
Yet, Hoffman and his team of scientists concluded that the incorrect labeling poses “no threat” to the consumers who eat it, despite some more gems uncovered:
Meat Musical Chairs
Briefing parliament’s portfolio committee on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, University of Western Cape forensic scientist Dr Eugenia D’Amato said nearly 43% of samples she had tested which were labelled as game, were, in fact, beef.
D’Amato said horse meat had also been used as a substitute for springbok in biltong, and pork was found in ostrich sausages.
There was also a smaller proportion of kangaroo in samples.
Despite the overall findings that consumers have absolutely no idea what they are eating – including human remnants – in 85% of the products, SA’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries deputy director-general downplayed it by asserting that we are not becoming unwitting cannibals:
It is possible that (if tested) we could find traces of human DNA in meat. However, even if we do find human DNA, it does not mean we are eating human flesh.
Great. Unfortunately, we are evidently eliminating healthy microorganisms in the processing of foods, but since there is an acceptable standard of nasty foreign entities, thanks to our regulatory agencies – we have introduced a variety of contaminants into now weakened guts and immune systems.
We’d like to think that these food scandals are safe from us – overseas, it’s their problem. But, big problems are usually systemic and many of the developed nations are on the same platform. As with most food scandals, they go on for years unnoticed before the beans are spilled.
It doesn’t sound like anyone’s literally being run through the meat grinder just yet, but it’s a startling fact that we don’t know much about what our food comes into contact with. And we have scientists and regulatory agencies continually asserting how safe our food supply is.
Are you unsettled at the prospect of ingesting someone else’s particles and blood? Do you wonder what else will be found when the next scientific investigation is conducted in your country?
Perhaps we should be asking ourselves before each meal, “Hey, who’s in there? How’d they get in there? Anyone missing?”
So, folks still think we have two major political parties who are quite different from one another, eh? People think the world would be a much different or better place “If Only…”their candidate and party of choice had won the election of 2012…or 2008…or well, you get the point. Hell, even thought I had found a “purist” party this time around when I jumped on the Libertarian train. Figures that I’d find out only a few short weeks after the election that my beloved Savior Party has been working with the corpo-legislative whores known as The American Legislative Exchange Council…ALEC. There is no place, no party and no politician that the huge agra-giants like Monsanto cannot sink their poisonous roots into…
—$—
CLN“The roots of the relationship between Monsanto and the White House go back for decades. Bush senior’s administration was responsible for deeming GMO crops substantially equivalent to non-GMO crops, opening the flood gates for the industry to take over the food supply with little room for the opposition.
Mitt Romney was intimately involved with Monsanto’s transition into biotechnology. During the presidential primaries, Romney named an 11-member agricultural advisory committee that was full of Monsanto connections.”
After promising to label GMO’s during his 2008 campaign, President Obama has opened the doors for the following GM crops during his administration:
This is not surprising given the fact that Obama has appointed the following people to regulatory bodies that are supposed to be responsible for the safety of our food (click on the links to see the announcements of Obama’s appointments):
Roger Beachy, director of the USDA, is a former director of Monsanto Michael Taylor, the USDA food safe czar, is a former VP of Monsanto Ramona Romero, a USDA council, was previously on Dupont’s corporate council. Islam Siddiqui, the US agriculture trade representative, who pushes GM exports to other countries, is a former Monsanto lobbyist.” Full Story Here
International Business Times – “The “Monsanto Protection Act” is the name opponents of the Farmer Assurance Provision have given to this terrifying piece of policy, and it’s a fitting moniker given its shocking content.
President Barack Obama signed a spending bill, HR 933, into law on Tuesday that includes language that has food and consumer advocates and organic farmers up in arms over their contention that the so-called “Monsanto Protection Act” is a giveaway to corporations that was passed under the cover of darkness.
There’s a lot being said about it, but here are five terrifying facts about the Farmer Assurance Provision — Section 735 of the spending bill — to get you acquainted with the reasons behind the ongoing uproar:
1.) The “Monsanto Protection Act” effectively bars federal courts from being able to halt the sale or planting of controversial genetically modified (aka GMO) or genetically engineered (GE) seeds, no matter what health issues may arise concerning GMOs in the future. The advent of genetically modified seeds — which has been driven by the massive Monsanto Company – and their exploding use in farms across America came on fast and has proved a huge boon for Monsanto’s profits.
But many anti-GMO folks argue there have not been enough studies into the potential health risks of this new class of crop. Well, now it appears that even if those studies are completed and they end up revealing severe adverse health effects related to the consumption of genetically modified foods, the courts will have no ability to stop the spread of the seeds and the crops they bear.
2.) The provision’s language was apparently written in collusion with Monsanto. Lawmakers and companies working together to craft legislation is by no means a rare occurrence in this day and age. But the fact that Sen. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, actually worked with Monsanto on a provision that in effect allows them to keep selling seeds, which can then go on to be planted, even if it is found to be harmful to consumers, is stunning. It’s just another example of corporations bending Congress to their will, and it’s one that could have dire risks for public health in America.
3.) Many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the “Monsanto Protection Act” even existed within the bill they were voting on. HR 933 was a spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown and ensuring that the federal government would continue to be able to pay its bills. But the Center for Food Safety maintains that many Democrats in Congress were not even aware that the provision was in the legislation:
“In this hidden backroom deal, Sen. [Barbara] Mikulski turned her back on consumer, environmental and farmer protection in favor of corporate welfare for biotech companies such as Monsanto,” Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said in a statement. “This abuse of power is not the kind of leadership the public has come to expect from Sen. Mikulski or the Democrat Majority in the Senate.”
4.) The President did nothing to stop it, either. On Tuesday, Obama signed HR 933 while the rest of the nation was fixated on gay marriage, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument concerning California’s Proposition 8. But just because most of the nation and the media were paying attention to gay marriage doesn’t mean that others were not doing their best to express their opposition to the “Monsanto Protection Act.” In fact, more than 250,000 voters signed a petition opposing the provision. And Food Democracy Now protesters even took their fight straight to Obama, protesting in front of the White House against Section 735 of the bill. He signed it anyway.
5.) It sets a terrible precedent. Though it will only remain in effect for six months until the government finds another way to fund its operations, the message it sends is that corporations can get around consumer safety protections if they get Congress on their side. Furthermore, it sets a precedent that suggests that court challenges are a privilege, not a right.” Full Article Here on IBT
(NASDAQ) – Chemicals giant EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. ( DD ), commonly called DuPont, has reached technology licensing deals with Monsanto Co. ( MON ) on genetically modified seed traits, the two companies said Tuesday. Both the companies also agreed to dismiss their antitrust and patent infringement lawsuits pending against each other in U.S. federal court.
Under the deals reached between the two companies, DuPont will make a total of $1.75 billion in royalty payments to Monsanto for the technology licensing deals, while a $1 billion jury verdict awarded to Monsanto in August 2012 in its patent infringement lawsuit against DuPont will be dismissed. Monsanto is the world’s largest seed company.
The agreements between DuPont and Monsanto include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the U.S. and Canada. Through these deals, DuPont’s subsidiary, DuPont Pioneer will be able to offer Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans as early as 2014, and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend glyphosate and dicamba tolerant soybeans as early as 2015, pending regulatory approvals.
DuPont Pioneer also will receive regulatory data rights for the soybean and corn traits previously licensed from Monsanto, enabling it to create a wide array of stacked trait combinations using traits or genetics from DuPont Pioneer or others. Meanwhile, Monsanto will receive access to certain DuPont Pioneer disease resistance and corn defoliation patents.
As part of the deal, DuPont Pioneer will make four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017 totaling $802 million for trait technology, associated data, and soybean lines to support commercial introduction.
Additionally, beginning in 2018, DuPont Pioneer will pay royalties on a per-unit basis of Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield and Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Xtend for the life of the agreement for continued technology access. Annual minimum payments through 2023 will total $950 million…” Full Story Here
“So let me get this straight: It’s illegal in America to milk a cow, sell that fresh milk to a neighbor and have their baby drink fresh milk with all the digestive enzymes intact. But it’s perfectly acceptable in our world to engineer mutant cloned genetically modified cows to produce hormone-induced, artificially-engineered milk that will be fed en masse to human babies?”
World Truth TV – “The world of genetic engineering has fallen even further into the surreal with the announcement that New Zealand “scientists” have unveiled a genetically modified mutant cloned cow which they say produces a reduced-allergen milk for consumption by human babies. This is being reported by the BBC and elsewhere.
Horrifyingly, these Frankenscientists cloned a cow and then altered the embryo using RNA interference. After gestation, the mutant GMO cow was born without a tail! But these scientists say that’s no problem, and that the mutation of having no tail couldn’t possibly be related to anything they did with the cow’s DNA.
I’m not making this up. This is the insanity of the quack science world in which we now live.”
—
“To make Daisy [the cow], scientists took a cow skin cell and genetically modified it to produce molecules that block the manufacture of BLG protein. The nucleus of this cell was then transferred into a cow egg that had its own nucleus removed.
The reconstituted egg was grown in the lab until it formed what is called a blastocyst, a ball of around 100 cells, and then transplanted into the womb of a foster cow.
The cloning technique is not efficient. Of around 100 blastocysts the scientists implanted into cows, more than half of the pregnancies failed early on, and only one live calf, Daisy, was born.
And even that calf was a mutant calf, born without a tail, rendering the whole thing a horrifying example of genetic mutilation…”
—
Humanity is risking a genetic apocalypse
This has got to stop, friends. The mad GMO scientists are operating in gross violation of natural law. They are playing genetic roulette with Mother Nature. They’re fumbling in the dark with dangerous tools, like children with suitcase nukes and a happy red button that seems inviting to just push and see what happens.
Our modern-day human civilization has neither the ethical foundation nor the wisdom to pursue such technologies. Altering the digital code for the expression of life is not something to be pursued under the crude selfishness of corporate greed, nor the wild fantasies of naive scientists who relish in playing “what if” experiments with all remaining life on our planet.
These experiments on animals — and crops — are worse than foolish. They are inherently evil… even demented. Just because we know how to alter DNA doesn’t mean we have the wisdom to understand the consequences of doing so. Yet in the race for the next biological profit machine — a cow, a crop, or even a pharmaceutical — caution is thrown out the window and replaced by pure mindless greed.
No one knows what happens when the genetic engineering of mutant chimera animals get unleashed across the land. Nobody really knows the long-term effects of genetic pollution. Nobody even knows the long-term effects of humans eating GM crops!
So it’s all a grand, malicious, conceited genetic experiment being carried out on us all: our bodies, our children, our lands, our animals, our crops and our planet.
The GM “scientists” are risking EVERYTHING. And they do so blindly, while mutilating animals and calling it “progress.”
It is disgusting. It is an abomination. I pray for the sake of humanity that all genetic engineering activity in our planet is halted by any means necessary.
We are floating through space, my friends, on a blue ball of water inhabited by fools who call themselves “scientists.”
They risk everything. And there is no backup plan.
Spread the word. SHARE this story. STOP the genetic mutilation of animals. HALT GMO crops and save our planet from the risk of total disaster.”
—
And hey, if you don’t care for the idea of this ‘reduced allergin’ milk, you could always hop on over to Japan and get a big glass of human breast milk…straight from a cow’s teet…
Some days I really just feel like ranting and raving and howling in pure frustration until all the world stops in its tracks at the sound of my voice. Beneath the raging fury though is a real sadness…how has it come to pass that humans have lost their way to such a degree? Nothing pure or real is valued; nothing but money is considered sacred, it seems. Food…one of the most natural & basic of necessities…we’ve twisted and bastardized it to the point that it is no longer safe or even recognizable sometimes. We are so damned lost that we cannot even appreciate the value of such a simple thing as pure honey anymore…
Live Science – There might be something funny in your honey…
“Food-safety experts have found that much of the honey sold in the United States isn’t actually honey, but a concoction of corn or rice syrup, malt sweeteners or “jiggery” (cheap, unrefined sugar), plus a small amount of genuine honey, according toWired UK.
Worse, some honey — much of which is imported from Asia — has been found to contain toxins like lead and other heavy metals, as well as drugs like chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, according to a Department of Justice news release.
This international “honey-laundering” scandal has now resulted in a Justice Department indictment of two U.S. companies and the charging of five people with selling mislabeled honey that also contained chloramphenicol.
Honey Solutions of Baytown, Texas, and Groeb Farms of Onsted, Mich., have agreed to pay millions of dollars in fines and implement corporate compliance measures following a lengthy Justice Department investigation.” Full Story Here
—
And now I think the only way to restore a measure of peace to my brain is to go outside, water my flowers, plant more seeds and try to apologize to the bees for our careless desecration of their lovely gift of honey..!
“The FDA has stated it will likely not label genetically engineered salmon, providing consumers no way of knowing if the fish they are feeding their families is genetically engineered. At least 35 other species of genetically engineered fish are currently under development, and the FDA’s decision on this genetically engineered salmon application will set a precedent for other genetically engineered fish and animals (including cows, chickens and pigs) to enter the global food market.”
Common Dreams – March 20 – “A coalition of consumer, health, food safety and fishing groups today launched the “Campaign for Genetically Engineered (GE)-Free Seafood” by announcing that several major grocery retailers representing more than 2,000 stores across the United States have already committed not to sell genetically engineered seafood if it is allowed onto the market.
The growing market rejection of GE fish comes as the FDA conducts its final review of a genetically engineered salmon. If approved, the salmon would be the first-ever genetically engineered animal allowed to enter the human food supply.
Stores that have committed to not offer the salmon or other genetically engineered seafood include the national retailers Trader Joe’s (367 stores), Aldi (1,230 stores), Whole Foods (325 stores in US); regional chains such as Marsh Supermarkets (93 stores in Indiana and Ohio), PCC Natural Markets (9 stores in Washington State); and co-ops in Minnesota, New York, California and Kansas.
“We applaud these retailers for listening to the vast majority of their customers who want sustainable, natural seafood for their families. Now it’s time for other food retailers, including Walmart, Costco and Safeway, to follow suit and let their customers know they will not be selling unlabeled, poorly studied genetically engineered seafood,” said Eric Hoffman, food & technology policy campaigner with Friends of the Earth…”
After I caught the story below that talks about Texas S.B. 63 which allows for vaccines without parental consent, I started digging around and doing a bit more research into this bill & its sponsor. It took me less than half an hour to track down Jane Nelson’s membership in The American Legislative Exchange Council. Not only is she a supporting member; she is an active member that sits on ALEC’s…*drum roll please* Health & Human Services Taskforce.
Wonders never cease, right?
Even more shocking is the fact that some of Nelson’s largest campaign contributors are pharmaceutical and medical industries…*Gasp* whoever could imagine a politrickster pushing a corporate agenda, eh?
–
(NaturalNews) “If you thought the so-called “great state” of Texas was a bastion of freedom, liberty, and minimal government intrusion, think again. Efforts are currently in the works in the form of two new Senate bills to seize parental sovereignty rights and allow minors living in the Lone Star State to consent to vaccinations.
Senate Bill 63, entitled “Relating to consent to the immunization of certain children,” would allow minors to consent to vaccinations without their parents’ permission, violating existing Texas statutes that prohibit such action. Sponsored by Senator Jane Nelson, a Republican from Texas’ District 12 near Dallas, S.B. 63 is a direct affront to the rights of parents to govern the vaccination choices of their children.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “cocooning” as a strategy to protect babies from vaccine-preventable diseases in the first months of life. This entails vaccinating those in close contact with the infant, especially their parents and caregivers. Unborn children receive disease immunity through vaccines obtained by their mothers during pregnancy.
Currently, minor parents may consent to medical treatment, including immunizations, for their children. However, they may not consent to their own immunizations. Pregnant minors are also not currently allowed to consent to their own immunizations. S.B. 63 is intended to better protect unborn children and infants from vaccine-preventable diseases by allowing their parents to more easily access immunizations. Specifically, this bill allows pregnant minors or minor parents with custody of children to consent to their own immunizations.
As proposed, S.B. 63 amends current law relating to consent to the immunization of certain children.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter B, Chapter 32, Family Code, by adding Section 32.1011, as follows:
Sec. 32.1011. CONSENT TO IMMUNIZATION BY CHILD. (a) Authorizes a child, notwithstanding Section 32.003 (Consent to Treatment by Child) or 32.101 (Who May Consent to Immunization of Child), to consent to the child’s own immunization if the child is pregnant or is the parent of a child and has actual custody of that child.
(b) Requires that consent to immunization under this section meet the requirements of Section 32.002(a) (relating to the requirement that consent to medical treatment be in writing, among other requirements).
(c) Provides that consent by a child to immunization under this section is not subject to disaffirmance because of minority.
(d) Authorizes a health care provider or facility to rely on the written statement of the child containing the grounds on which the child has capacity to consent to the child’s immunization under this section.
(e) Provides that to the extent of any conflict between this section and Section 32.003, this section controls.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2013.
—
The bill’s sponsor, Jane Nelson, raised a total of $677,298 in campaign contributions in 2010.
Below are Nelson’s top 5 campaign contributors in the 2010 election:
“…three of the largest private prison companies have spent approximately $45,000,000 combined on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past decade.
Would they be spending so much money if those companies did not believe that it was getting results?”
Excerpts, The Economic Collapse Blog, “How would you describe an industry that wants to put more Americans in prison and keep them there longer so that it can make more money? In America today, approximately 130,000 people are locked up in private prisons that are being run by for-profit companies, and that number is growing very rapidly. Overall, the U.S. has approximately 25 percent of the entire global prison population even though it only has 5 percent of the total global population. The United States has the highest incarceration rate on the entire globe by far, and no nation in the history of the world has ever locked up more of its own citizens than we have. Are we really such a cesspool of filth and decay that we need to lock up so many of our own people? Or are there some other factors at work? Could part of the problem be that we have allowed companies to lock up men and women in cages for profit? The two largest private prison companies combined to bring in close to $3,000,000,000 in revenue in 2010, and the largest private prison companies have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions over the past decade. Putting Americans behind bars has become very big business, and those companies have been given a perverse incentive to push for even more Americans to be locked up. It is a system that is absolutely teeming with corruption, and it is going to get a lot worse unless someone does something about it…”
$$$
$$$
“…At least 37 states have legalized the contracting of prison labor by private corporations that mount their operations inside state prisons. The list of such companies contains the cream of U.S. corporate society: IBM, Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, AT&T, Wireless, Texas Instrument, Dell, Compaq, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, Nortel, Lucent Technologies, 3Com, Intel, Northern Telecom, TWA, Nordstrom’s, Revlon, Macy’s, Pierre Cardin, Target Stores, and many more.All of these businesses are excited about the economic boom generation by prison labor. Just between 1980 and 1994, profits went up from $392 million to $1.31 billion. Inmates in state penitentiaries generally receive the minimum wage for their work, but not all; in Colorado, they get about $2 per hour, well under the minimum. And in privately-run prisons, they receive as little as 17 cents per hour for a maximum of six hours a day, the equivalent of $20 per month.The highest-paying private prison is CCA in Tennessee, where prisoners receive 50 cents per hour for what they call “highly skilled positions…”
$$$
“…But of course some of the biggest profits for private prisons come from detaining young people. Today, private prison companies operate more than 50 percent of all “youth correctional facilities” in the United States.
And sometimes judges have even been bribed by these companies to sentence kids to very harsh sentences and to send them to their facilities…”Full Article Here
$$$
With well over 2 million people in jail – the U.S. has the world’s biggest prison population. But some are seeing the inside of a cell because dodgy judges are getting payback from the private sector…
$$$
$$$
“For more than 30 years, ALEC has been the ideal means of creating and delivering public policy ideas aimed at protecting and expanding our free society. Thanks to ALEC’s membership, the duly elected leaders of their state legislatures, Jeffersonian principles advise and inform legislative action across the country. Literally hundreds of dedicated ALEC members have worked together to create, develop, introduce and guide to enactment many of the cutting-edge, conservative policies that have now become the law in the states. Since its founding, ALEC has amassed an unmatched record of achieving ground-breaking changes in public policy. ALEC’s far-reaching national network of state legislators that crosses geographic and political boundaries, and affects all levels of government, is without equal. [Emphasis mine] No other organization in America today can claim as many valuable assets – both people and ideas – that have influence on as many key decision-making centers.” Learn More About ALEC
By coordinating large numbers of small, agile robots to mimic the physical and behavioral robustness of insect groups, the program could direct a swarm of robots to accomplish tasks faster more reliably, and more efficiently than a single unit.
Scientific American “Honey bee populations around the world are in decline due to causes ranging from ‘super mites‘ to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and even cell phones – and if the insects disappear completely the planet’s ecosystems would be in peril. The issue has become so dire that now a team of Harvard and Northeastern University scientists are working on a swarm of miniature Robobee robots that could pollinate flowers and do the job of real bees if required.
Speaking to Scientific American, the team leaders said: “In 2009 the three of us began to seriously consider what it would take to create a robotic bee colony. We wondered if mechanical bees could replicate not just an individual’s behavior but the unique behavior that emerges out of interactions among thousands of bees. We have now created the first RoboBees—flying bee-size robots—and are working on methods to make thousands of them cooperate like a real hive.” Full Article Here
How nice to get a full video demonstration of the newly retrofitted ‘light armored’ tanks ready for deployment in New Mexico and W. Texas…yippeefreakingkayay!
Welcome to the Wild West, DHS style…
The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717* of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States. *An earlier version of this post included a figure of over 2,700 vehicles, as cited from the original RT link. This figure likely comes from a press release from Navistar Defense, mentioning delivery of 2,717 to the U.S. Marine Corps. A DHS Spokesman confirmed with Business Insider that they have only 16 nationwide.
For those of you who may be wondering…yes, I absolutely feel 100% safe and secure living here now that I know DHS is so well equipped as to be able to pluck us off the roadways (while not even having to worry about those pesky street mines!) as they drive…
…Oh…and if you actually believe me? Well…I’ve got some nice ocean front property for sale, too..!
RIP Hugo Chavez…the world will be a much less interesting & colorful place without you in it.
Hugo Chavez’s death is going to radically shift the balance of power in Latin America and the Caribbean but not for the reasons that you are being told on the mainstream media.
Not sure how I missed this info when it was announced a couple of weeks ago but I’m guessing I’m not the only one who missed the story so I decided to go ahead and share it. After reading about some of the reactions and horrific side effects to this *latest and greatest* vaccine, I’d never allow my daughter – much less my son – to get this. No way can I see this as anything other than more of Big Pharma’s way of experimenting on humans and raking in a profit while they screw with our bodies and lives.
—
The Telegraph – “Boys aged 12-13 will be vaccinated with Gardasil at schools around the country and in coming months boys aged 14-15 will get the jab as part of a catch up program.
More than one million teenage girls aged 12-16 have already been vaccinated under the free program that is expected to reduce the 700 new cases of cervical cancer diagnosed each year.
The vaccine fights off 70 per cent of cervical cancers caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) and although boys can’t develop the cancer they still carry the virus and can infect female sexual partners.
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek, who will launch the free vaccination program for boys at Newtown High School of Performing Arts in Sydney, said vaccinating boys will improve herd immunity.
“We know that vaccinating boys will protect them from cancer and genital warts.. and reduce the rates of cervical cancer among women,” she says.
