This is YOUR FOOD We’re Talking About

Corporate America is trying to take one more step to control food.  Small farmers are being threatened yet again by the federal government.  NAIS (National Animal Identification System)  is supposed to provide protection against these food recalls by tracking ‘food’ (in this case, animals) for their life.  Every time an animal is moved, mounds of paperwork have to be completed – for EACH animal. Moreoever – once again – this hurts the people who can least afford it – the SMALL FARMER.

Think it WON’T AFFECT YOU?

Think again.

If your kids have pet rabbits,  if you have a few chickens you keep for eggs or maybe you have a cow or two.  Goats for milking?  Those, too, will be required to be tagged and tracked.

No – what we do NOT need is NAIS.  We need BETTER conditions for these animals to begin with.  Not crowded, disease promoting facilities which harbor dangerous bacteria with lax monitoring systems!  The FDA and USDA cannot do it’s job, so they want to punish the small farmers and impose MORE TAXES on the American people.

Go to Organic Consumers to read more and tell your friends and contact your representatives!  Don’t let AGRIBUSINESS buy the saftey of the American people again!

Take Action: Stop NAIS

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been working for over five years to force a National Animal Identification System (NAIS) onto American animal owners. NAIS is designed to identify and track each and every individual livestock and poultry animal owned by family farmers, hobby farmers, homesteaders, and pet owners across the country.

USDA claims that NAIS is a disease tracking program, but has refused to provide any support for its claims. In reality, NAIS will:

Create expensive and time-consuming tagging and reporting requirements for small farms. The requirements are particularly burdensome for those farmers raising sustainable livestock on pasture. Ultimately, this will reduce the availability of grass-fed meats, eggs, and milk.

Give factory confinement farms a loophole through the use of group identification, providing yet another unfair advantage for factory farms. Not provide any information to the consumer, and does not improve food safety, because the tracking ends with the animal’s death.

Replace states’ existing, well-functioning disease response and brand inspection programs with an unproven, expensive, and unreliable system;

Impose high costs and government surveillance on every farmer and animal owner for no significant benefits, and will likely force many small producers out of business.

NAIS does nothing to improve food safety for consumers or prevent animal diseases. This program is a one-size-fits-all program developed by and for big Agribusiness. NAIS will increase consolidation of our food supply in the hands of a few large companies and put the brakes on the growing movement toward local food systems.

The grassroots movement has already successfully stalled USDA’s plans for NAIS, which originally called for the entire program – premises registration, animal identification, and tracking – to be mandatory by January 2009. The proposed rule is an opportunity to get thousands of objections in the formal record, and have an even greater impact.

It is imperative that people speak up to protect our right to farm and our food supply!

Take action today! Go to: ORGANIC CONSUMERS to see the video and learn more.

The deadline to submit comments to the USDA is March 16th.

Remember:  This is YOUR FOOD and America’s SMALL FARMERS we’re trying to save.

(Source:  OCA Feb Newsletter)

We Are All LAB RATS

YOU and I are lab rats.  Your KIDS are lab rats, too. Unless you grow and consume all your food yourself, YOU are held hostage by the food companies.

Think about it.  Everything thing you eat -  e v e n   those so-called ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ foods probably are tainted in some way with something.

I know too much.  I have my roots in the local food movement, but they stretch way back to the environmental movement.  What I do here, and on my website an other blogs, is try to EDUCATE.

For the most part, the average consumer has their head up their butt when it comes to food and the environment.  They think it’s not their problem, that it doesn’t concern them and that it doesn’t affect them.

Do you send your kids to public  school? Do they play sports?  Do they eat school food?  Do you take them to fast food joints?  What do you buy for them at the  grocery store? Do you eat in restaurants? What DO you eat when you eat? What DO you drink when you drink?

What about your home life?  What products do you buy:  laundry detergent, body care products, beauty products, perfumes, lotions, hair dye, nail polish?  What do you paint your walls with?  Where did you get your furniture? Do you use any bug killing preparations?  What about your lawn?  Do you have a lawn care service and do you KNOW what they put on your lawn?  Have you had a pest company assure you their ‘chemicals’ are safe around kids and pets?  Do you go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy lawn care products to keep the nasty bugs away?  Do your KIDS PLAY ON YOUR LAWN?

Where do YOU choose to shop?  Is Wally-World your best buddy because you have fallen victim and been brainwashed by their  ‘save money, live better’  catchphrase?

Big business, especially the likes of Wal-Mart, does NOT give a shit about you.  Look at the way they treat their own employees?  They’ve been convicted on a vast array of charges in recent years of labor violations.  Going waaaay back, and I have a copy of the article in my files here…. they even wanted to move a Native American cemetery because they wanted to build a store!  Do you think, in this day of corporate greed, that it’s gotten any better, that they’ve become a kinder, more gentler Wally?

There are numerous links detailing environmental disregard -and- total disregard for human life on this planet BY food companies and agricultural chemical companies.  You and I and this planet are being POISONED by thousands of chemicals a day because the likes of Monsanto and Bayer… those kindly aspirin people.

DO THE RESEARCH.  Do it for your kids, your friends, your family, your friends and if you care enough – our planet.

Buy Local

The average distance food travels to get to YOU is 1,500 miles.  The lettuce you bought at Wal-Mart probably came from California.  So did those strawberries.

Buying local has many benefits.  You get to meet the person who grew the food.  The money you spend stays in the community.  The food is fresher than trucked in stuff.  You’re eating seasonally which is what our bodies were designed to do.  Naturally grown, which is organic food, even if it is not ‘certified’ organic doesn’t contain pesticides & chemicals.

Despite what you think, we humans are still pretty primitive.  Our bodies have not adapted to digesting chemical compounds.  Chemicals have only become the norm in the last 50 years or so; a fleck of dust on the clock of evolution. Why, then, do we think our systems can effectively digest and eliminate them?

We are also made to eat seasonally.  Again, look to our past.  Did cavemen have food brought in during the winter?  Did the almighty Wal-Mart truck roll up at the cave and dump off strawberries in January?  No.  People scrounged for roots;  our modern equivalent of potatoes. Our bodies have not developed much beyond that. It wasn’t until the advent of modern transportation that brought the multitude of different foods to our grocers.

The food you buy locally has more nutritional value.  Depending on the crop, it probably was picked a day or two ago instead of weeks ago.  It wasn’t irradiated or wrapped in plastic.  It hasn’t been in cold storage for 6 months like those apples you buy in the spring.  They’ve been off the tree since the previous fall!

Big agribusiness does NOT have YOUR interests in mind.  Profit is their only goal.  They could care less if the food you eat is poisoned with chemicals.  Wal-Mart doesn’t care about you, either.  They import food which contains chemicals that have been banned in the United States for decades, and YOU’RE eating it! Those grapes from Chile:  do YOU know what chemicals were used on them?

Your local small farmer works tirelessly for YOU.  He or she wants to get good, fresh, nutritious food to you. They are fighting hard to exist, as we all are, but you can help.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FARMERS! Know where your food comes from!

Detox: Why It’s Important

We live in a world of toxins, which didn’t exist 50 or 100 years ago.  Since the advent of plastics, that “miracle substance”, we can find few things that aren’t either entirely composed of them or partially so. Consequently, because of things like plastics, pollution, food additives, pesticides, synthetic ingredients in furnishings, personal care items, and cleaning products, we need to help our bodies get rid of toxins.  This is where a good detox bath comes in.

Since ancient times, one of the most effective detox regimens has been the bath.  Soaking in hot mineral springs or a bath containing aromatic bath salts, oils and herbs, was a favorite past time of the Romans, Chinese and other civilizations. Aromatic bath salts serve a two-fold purpose:  their scent calms and relaxes the body and the salts, be it Dead Sea salts, Himalayan salts, Epsom salts or other natural bath salts, act as a detoxifying agent.  This helps the body rid itself of toxins, stave off illness and muscle strain and fatigue. If you remove dead skin with an exfoliating natural scrub, the results are even better.

Most people don’t realize that when you take a hot detox bath, you can even either prevent or lessen the effects of an oncoming illness.  A hot detox bath does the same thing as a fever does:  kills germs inside the body by raising the overall temperature.  That’s what a fever is for!  It is the body’s defense system against illness.

One of my favorite combinations is  mixing Epsom salts with bath salts. Epsom salts are wonderful!  We think of them only when we’ve sprained or strained something.  They have two other great benefits:  they will help you sleep after their detoxing properties in your bath, and they are a natural skin softener.

So, the next time you get that scratchy feeling in your throat, or have been around too many people who’re sick – and don’t want to come down with something, get in a  hot tub for an hour or two with some bath salts.  Your body will probably thank you!

ADD/HD & Diet?

An article appeared in Reuters on children on medication for ADD/HD having hallucinations. Why is this no surprise?

The use of Ritalin and its cousins, all nervous system excitants, became the drug of choice during the 80s and 90s.  Ritalin is one of the most over prescribed drugs on the market today.  Although certain criteria should be met before assuming a child truly is ADHD, many physicians and parents are too quick to assume their child truly is ADD/HD, when all that may be needed is a ‘cleaner’ diet.

We’ve all seen kids bounce off the walls after eating high doses of sugar, haven’t we?  Why is it so strange to some that FOOD may actually be the cause of supposed ADD/HD in your kid?

The typical American diet is loaded with sugar and chemical additives. Browse any supermarket aisle containing lunch items and you will find a disturbing array of ‘food-like substances’ designed for convenience for Moms packing kids’ school lunches.  Food marketed as ‘healthy’ or a ‘good, nutritious lunch for your kids’ or ‘healthy snacks’ often contains more artificial ingredients than real, actual food.  Even so-called healthy yogurts:  low or no fat varieties of one popular brand, Yoplait, have a scary list of artificial ingredients.

Don’t fall for the claims of fast-food purveyors, either.  Every parent.., no.., make that every person, should read ‘Fast Food Nation’ by Eric Schlosser if you eat fast food.  Morgan Spurlock’s book, “Supersize Me”, which came out after the academy nominated movie, gives a behind-the-scenes look at McDonald’s and the fast food industry.  I guarantee, you’ll never feel the same about eating out after reading these two books.

ADD/HD is a real condition due to the brain’s neural transmissions and actual brain development. Rather than assuming your kid IS actually ADD/HD and is not just being a ‘normal’ kid with that kid energy, don’t automatically go for the doctor’s insistence on a drug regimen. Parents should consider a natural approach first.  What is your child eating during the day?  What IS IN their food that might be causing this?

Consulting with a licensed nutritionist or dietitian, having a chemical analysis done might be a good first step.  A cleaner diet, free of artificial chemicals, all sugars, no soda – might go a long way to helping the child.  Because studies have indicated that there are an average of 1,000 household  toxins in a child’s home  environment, eliminating these elements may also have some bearing.

As an old friend used to say:  “Start simple.”  It may be the most beneficial way to help your child.

Go GETTUM Sen. McCaskill!

This is for my friend at Bank of America!

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2009/01/30/sot.mccaskill.on.wall.st.cnn

Want A Job? Move To India

A friend who has worked for Bank of America just learned her job will end on July 31st.  She has worked there 15 years through various name changes and takeovers/buyouts.

Her boss announced the jobs would be outsourced to India.  Isn’t that NICE!

I just found out (un-officially) that I will be out of a job on July 31st .. wow. My dept is the best in the country – we have come under goal for 18 months! Not one other dept can say that. The big honcho came in person to tell us. One of my co-workers called me and told me .. management has yet to call me. Our jobs are going to India.  India!?! Freakin’ India?? Bank of America just got more bailout money .. for what?! I want to know what the hell they are using that money for! To decorate another office?! I am writing every person I can find – this is so not right! I am literally shaking from anger ….

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?  Those of us who are out of work and those who have recently lost their jobs and those who will be losing their jobs…., where are the jobs for us?

I guess we have to move to India.

There aren’t enough burger joints for all of us to work in!  Time was, a game of kiss-ass would keep you a job.  That doesn’t work, not when daily announcements of losses and layoffs blankets the news.

In the movie, “SICKO”, there is an interesting note.  A person interviewed in France said, “Here in France the government is afraid of the people.  In the U.S. the people are afraid of the government.”

Maybe it’s TIME for another REVOLUTION!  Time to let government know that we WILL NOT TOLERATE OUR JOBS BEING SENT OVER SEAS.  Companies who do intend to send jobs to places like India should be fined heavily.  Not being in law or government, I’m not sure how this would work – but IT HAS TO STOP NOW.  If companies are losing money – it is because people are not buying because they have no jobs or are afraid that they are next!

The new administration  has a terribly difficult task ahead of it cleaning up the Bush era mess. I don’t envy President Obama because I truly believe he is on our side.  It’s the other clowns in government I worry about!

No Universal Health Care in the US

I am one step away from financial ruin.

I have no health insurance.  If I am involved in an automobile accident or am diagnosed with a terminal illness, I will lose my house and everything I own.  Since the value of my home has been reduced in this awful economy, and I  have no job and have been forced to start living off my investments which were to be my retirement, I stand on the precipice of disaster.

There won’t be any universal health care in the US because it’s not profitable.

Health care interests on Capitol Hill buy our legislators because universal health care would threaten their profits. They don’t make money  if they have to pay a claim, and they are very adept at denials.

I just finished watching Michael Moore’s “SICKO”.  No wonder why people don’t like him.  He tells the truth!  If you haven’t seen it, get on Netflix and order it.  It will make you mad!

The detainees at Guantanamo Bay – the terrorists at ‘Gitmo’ receive better care than the average American. In the video there was testimonial on the care these prisoners receive.  It was astonishing to see that they were looked after in a manner in which we Americans don’t ever know.  Preventative care, which is not the way of Western medicine, was routine here.

Moore also visited with many families who were denied care despite orders from their doctors.  Interviews with health care providers:  policy underwriters, actuaries and others who determine who gets care or coverage, if any.  The list of exclusions for one company probably was in the hundreds.  It was the job of another professional to find one crack; anything in past history in which to use against an insured to deny coverage. One woman with ovarian cancer was denied treatment because she’d had a yeast infection in the past!

There was a scene in which 4 women, all with health insurance, had been diagnosed with various forms of cancer. Ovarian and brain cancers had befallen two of them.  Two others had rare forms of the illness.  Their treatments were all denied because insurance companies listed chemo as either ‘not medically necessary’ or ‘experimental.’ WHAT???

Moore next visited England where he spoke with a former member of the government.  This man provided an interesting thought:

“If a country can find money to kill people in war, whey can’t they find money to heal?”

Interesting point.

Our medical system here focuses on treating people after they become ill, not in preventing the illness in the first place.  Eastern medicine, in China, for instance, does the opposite.  With natural remedies, some going back thousands of years, supplemented by modern medicine, preventative medicine is the key.

Moore took four 9/11 rescuers, all suffering from respiratory illnesses and PTSD to the waters outside Guantanamo Bay.  Over a bullhorn, he demanded the same care for these people that the prisoners at Gitmo got.  No response.

Next he took them to Cuba to be evaluated – for free – even though they were not Cuban citizens.  It didn’t matter, they were told.  With a reassuring tone, all 9/11 survivors were checked out in the hospital.  Diagnoses confirmed, they received instructions and medication.  One woman’s medication in the U.S. for one medicine, was $120.  The same medicine from a Cuban doctor was FIVE CENTS.

He visited England and France where nationalized health care is the norm.  People are not denied care.  In most cases it was either free or participants paid according to what they could afford but always received the care that they needed.  They were never told their care was unnecessary;  coverage was never denied.  True, taxes there are much higher than here.

It is a ‘we’ system instead of a ‘me’ system.  The United States has a ‘me’ system.  The ‘ME’ is the insurance companies who are ‘for profit’, looking out for ‘me’ (them) first.

This is a sad state we’re in.  I don’t know how to fix it but just hope that I don’t end up like the woman discharged from a California hospital.  She was put in a cab, still in her hospital gown and dumped at a shelter.  Another woman, suffering from broken ribs, broken collarbone and injuries to her face and head was dumped at the same facility.

They could not pay their hospital bills.

Disposable Workers

Have you heard this fairy tale?

A long, long time ago, in a far off land called the United States of America, people had jobs with companies who treated them like humans.  They could get a job and work there for the rest of their lives.  Unless they did something really bad, like steal or go to bed with the boss’ wife and get caught -  they could be assured this job for as long as they wanted it. All they had to do was show up every day and work as hard as they could.

Then one day, an ogre appeared.  It decided it was best for the company if it acted in its best interests.  Too bad about the employees, they’re just numbers on a time card, aren’t they?  They can’t have any feelings!

If the company could hire  new workers and pay them less, that would make it better for the business.  They found a lot of ways to get rid of the good, but over- paid workers and keep those out who wanted more than they were willing to pay.

It didn’t matter if the bosses made their jobs miserable.  If the workers quit, they could get NEW ones!  It didn’t matter if the good ones left.  They could get NEW ones and pay them less.

These big companies didn’t care if workers tried to have a life outside of the workplace.  It was too bad if the scheduling wasn’t feasible for the employee.  It doesn’t matter if there is nobody to take care of the kids because both parents have to work the same hours.  Surely you can pay for day care, can’t you?

We have a New idea:  let’s have the COMPUTER make up the schedules!  That way we won’t have to pay anyone to do it.  The computer can do it a lot faster.  It doesn’t matter if the computer has no knowledge of the employee’s situation.  Oh – an employee lives too far to work till after 11 and be back on the job at 6 in the morning?  Oh that’s silly – people can function of 2 hours of sleep and still be a courteous customer service associate, can’t they?  You love your job, don’t you?  You need your job, don’t you?

You have a medical condition,  &  yes, we see that you’ve brought a doctor’s letter with his recommendations.  Well, we’ll take care of that.  We’ll just interpret it to our benefit.  We’ll take every line, word for word and tell you what it really means.  If you don’t like it – there’s the door!

We’re going to save money on medical insurance.  We’ve decided that you have to work 40 hours to qualify – but – sssshhhhhhh, don’t tell anyone – we won’t hire anyone to work more than 35!  Now we can get out of paying 95% of our workers medical insurance!  After all, don’t we want to give our customers “low prices, always’ and continue ‘improving home improvement?’  After all, ‘you can do it, we can help,’  isn’t that right? We know our employees will say ‘I’m lovin’ it’ because we let them work here. We can’t let them ‘have it your way’, can we?