“First they came for the cows” — small farmer tells the story of NAIS in fiction

Homesteader, author, blogger and activist Sharon Zecchinelli tells a fictionalized account of the story of America’s National Animal Identifcation System in her new book “First they came for the cows”. Here are excerpts from some reviews. First, from NONAIS:

“First They Came for the Cows

Background Info — walterj 12:01 am

Sharon Zecchinelli, a.k.a. HenWhisperer, has written a semi-fictional historical account of NAIS to date and a little into the future. We can hope that she is right.

First they came for the cows -- now a book you can buy at Amazon!

Getting the book was hard for me. I was crazy busy and I had promised Sharon I would look at it. I dreaded her sending it. Reading it was a should, as in, “I should read it to make Sharon feel good.” 

Once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down. I got it in the mid-afternoon and finished at about 4 pm. That included time to do some googling to check things.

First They Came for the Cows is a good narrative of the story of the struggle against the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Everyone involved, from farmers to activists to government officials will find nits to pick. Sharon has things in there that will piss off some people and left out things that will upset other people. It is never worth trying to please everyone.

Four new British Columbia cowshares

This just in from Gordon Watson, our west-coast correspondent:

“The good news is that there are four more little cow-shares actually operating or about to start up,  in British Columbia, this spring. Though not without a bit of meddling from the bureaucrats. The Health Inspector in Prince George sent one of them a registered letter, advising her not to “sell” raw milk.   Below is my response:

April 13^th 2009

To : Donna Bush, Health Inspector

And To : Greg Thibault, Manager Northern Health

Copies to : Neena Sharma counsel for Minister of Health George Abbott

Guy McDannold counsel for Health Protection Branch

I am disappointed that you did not respond to the two voice-mail messages I left you back in February about the legality of cowsharing. It would have been better had you spoken with me then, so as not to be still labouring under the mistakes apparent in your letter to Lesley McConnachie of March 25 2009. In fact, she nor Hunny-Do Ranch sell raw milk.

Your letter to Mrs McConnachie says you did view the website of the Campaign for REAL MILK www.realmilk.com. Therefore you cannot plead ignorance of the fact that raw milk is available, quite legally, in the majority of the united States of America. You now know that the proposition that “all raw milk is always and only a vector for human pathogens” is incorrect. You must admit that raw milk can be produced safely. Home on the Range has been doing so for nearly two years in BC.

From military surplus munitions being “re-purposed” as fertilizer & pesticides to Michelle Obama’s organic garden

More dynamite material from our good friends at Yupfarming in Wisconsin:

Digging up the White House lawn with Michelle Obama -- American elementary school children.*

“….During World War I, two German scientists … discovered an efficient means for the large-scale chemical synthesis of ammonia and its various nitrate derivatives. The BASF company … and their products played a central role in the orgy of mass destruction …  Huge excesses of nitrogenous compounds that accumulated during World War I provided the basis for the beginnings of the mass production of synthetic nitrate fertilizers. … Monsanto increased its profits 100 fold during the World War … supplying the chemical precursors for high explosives such as TNT.

After World War II, DDT became the most widely applied chemical in human history, and its commercial success led … to a dramatic shift in the chemical industry’s … attitude that still plagues us today, and was in many ways a direct outgrowth of its wartime origins. DDT truly was seen as an ultimate weapon, the “atom bomb of insecticides,” capable of permanently eliminating various pest species.

During the 1960s, Monsanto was a leading manufacturer of the herbicide “Agent Orange,” … used by U.S. military forces to obliterate the dense jungles of Vietnam. Today Monsanto’s Roundup-family herbicides play a central role in the U.S. “drug war” via its widespread use to eradicate coca and poppy plants … Colombian agronomists have uncovered the use of a new additive that increases herbicide exposures to more than 100 times Monsanto’s recommended dosage for more typical agricultural applications…..”

“Illegal” home-made apple pies nabbed at Pennsylvania church Lenten dinner

Some excerpts from a recent post on Yupfarming blog:

“….As the article below will show, and without ever “saying” they are “criminalizing church events,” the state of Pennsylvania, working for the benefit only of corporations, is not only controlling but terrorizing communities who are using food in the normal ways they have for generations (and with joy).  And, in the end, they are effectively “criminalizing church events,” and one might add “religious celebrations, traditional food, ethnic food, charity bazaars, bake sales, ….”

Pie renegades at St. Cecilia's church in Pennsylvania where they had the temerity to serve home-made pies. Photo: Kris Maher/The Wall Street Journal

“….So, in both this attack on a church and on a Mennonite farmer (3 raids against him so far and tens of thousands in theft of his equipment, product, and family’s food), the government is working with people from the corporate food industry to crush its harmless non-corporate competition.  

Pennsylvania Governor Rendell is a close friend of the Clintons who put Michael Taylor, a Monsanto lawyer and executive, in charge of our FDA.  Taylor approved Monsanto’s rBGH over objections by the medical community and even FDA scientists.  The Pennsylvania government under Governor Rendell, attempted, in a dairy state, to push a Monsanto ban on the labeling of milk from cows using rBGH, a genetically engineered hormone to force cows to produce more milk.  (Kansas is in the throes of this non-labeling effort now.)  

Pennsylvania thus was hiding a known “food safety” threat from the public while simultaneously attacking its own dairy farmers – the ones who sell pure milk and have been doing so for generations.  

In seeing this, it becomes clear, the effort to eliminate real milk has nothing to do with “food safety,” just as it doesn’t with the women in the church who are mentioned below.  The “danger” is that those farmers don’t just sell real milk – they sell non-corporate milk.  They are doing pure farm to consumer sales, a rare sector of farming that is growing, and without a dime from the government … or to industry.  All monies are spent locally and used locally.  

Big Business & Big Government vs Small Farms & Home Gardens

Here’s an excerpt from a recent post by Chuck Baldwin from his blog News with Views. Chuck is a Baptist pastor in Florida.

“….Corporatism is the marriage of Big Business with Big Government. Corporatism uses the force and weight of government to create giant monopolies, which strangle competition and freedom. Rules and regulations are enacted that make it impossible for “little” guys to compete. The trade laws of nations are pitted against each other, forcing free nations to sacrifice their own peace and security to accommodate the economies of totalitarian regimes. And, of course, Big Business is the recipient of gargantuan profits in the process.

Please understand that the movers and shakers of Big Business have no national loyalty. They claim no country, salute no flag, and recognize no independence but their own. They are the travel companions of the bloodiest butchers on the planet. They have homes in every corner of the globe and are happy to share the beds of the vilest people on earth. They would gladly sell the heart and soul of America to the highest bidder, and have long ago sold their own hearts and souls to the devil.

And there is no limit to how intimately Big Business and Big Government can collaborate to steal people’s liberties. A classic case in point is the burgeoning effort to control and regulate private, homegrown gardens.