Judgement day — one day later

Michael Schmidt and his son Marcus at the farm gate as the sun sets on another day of raw milk dairying at Glencolton Farms. That's the famous blue bus on the right.

A Nod from the Complete Patient

We’d like to thank David E. Gumpert for a favourable mention on his “The Complete Patient” blog; that has led a steady stream of reader traffic to the bovine this week. Here’s what he says about us:

“Thanks to John D. for the link to his stories covering the Michael Schmidt case, following my previous post. As he says, there’s been a huge amount of coverage in the Canadian press. I’d just like to correct one misstatement–that Michael is “unique in not allowing himself to be cowed by the actions of governments.” There are a number of dairy farmers who fall into that category, in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and other places, and they are performing a huge public service in educating the public about the realities of raw milk…at major personal sacrifice.”

I stand corrected. As I’ve mentioned before, The Complete Patient is the number one place to go on the web for informed discussion about raw milk issues in North America.

Owen Sound Sun Times no longer shines on Michael Schmidt’s raw milk

I hear they’ve got a new editor in the local paper in Michael Schmidt’s neck of the woods, and the paper is now as staunchly anti-raw-milk as they seemed to be pro-freedom-to-choose last year. Coincidence? Or is “someone” yanking their chain? Anyway, I’m sure you’re all dying to see what they wrote about the latest kerfuffel down in Newmarket. Here it is; they call it “Michael Schmidt should stop flauting the law“:

“The Ontario government does not have the capacity to ensure that unpasteurized milk is safe to distribute. Michael Schmidt does not have the right to pick and choose which laws he wishes to obey.

It’s time the Durham-area farmer gave up his raw-milk crusade and got back to farming, or whatever other legal, gainful employment he chooses to pursue.

Schmidt was found guilty yesterday of contempt of court for disobeying a court order that he stop selling raw milk.

He has not yet been sentenced. But in a typically flamboyant gesture, the raw-milk advocate asked the judge to impose “the highest penalty you can find.”

So what are the “Yahoo”s saying?

Alright, I hear you muttering about that story on cbcnews and the 344 comments. Some of you think that the CBC audience is not a true slice of the demographic pie, that they’ve got more than their share of elitist pinko book readers and university profs. So, let’s go for something a little more “middlebrow”. Can we do better than “Yahoo News”? These folks don’t even write their own news stories; it’s just boilerplate from the Canadian Press wire service. And yet their October 20th story “Farmer prosecuted for raw milk says he will not stop” garnered 258 comments. But before we get to those, here’s a little excerpt from the story itself:

“By Clint Thomas, The Canadian Press

NEWMARKET, Ont. – An organic dairy farmer from southern Ontario vowed Monday to continue the illegal sale of raw milk, just minutes after being found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring an order to cease selling the product.

“Yes, we will continue with what we’re doing,” Michael Schmidt said following the ruling, as he and several supporters made a show of chugging back glasses of milk in front of the courthouse in Newmarket, Ont. It was unclear whether or not the milk was raw or pasteurized.

The Ubyssey on “lacteal secretions”

The Ubyssey is a paper/website run by students from the University of British Columbia (UBC). It’s a hoot to read their take on raw milk in the passage below, excerpted from their October 20th, 2008 editorial titled “Tasty Teat Transgressions”:

““No person shall sell the normal lacteal secretion obtained from the mammary gland of the cow, genus Bos, or of any other animal…unless the secretion or dairy production has been pasteurized…”

This newspaper has, historically, come out in favor of legalization. Abortion. Marijuana. Alcohol. Gay marriage. Prostitution. Sodomy. And so today we’ll add yet another to our list: Unpasteurized milk.