“What would Jesus buy?” — Raw milk?

“What would Jesus buy?” is the question from Reverend Billy and his “Church of Life After Shopping”. The Reverend is a full-blown culture jammer if ever there was one. Yeah I know this is a little off topic on a raw milk blog, but it’s just so funny I couldn’t resist. The following is from the Greenhorns “Irresistable Fleet of Bicycles” blog:

"When the going gets tough... the tough get weird" Reverend Billy on his Christmas tour with the "Life after Shopping Gospel Choir" in Union Square... only in America!!!

“We start on Buy Nothing Day, Friday Nov 27, 5 AM – trying to convert the Consumers at the front-door of Macy’s. Then off to the Valley Stream Wal-Mart to remember Jdimytai Damour. The on-the-road part of the tour starts with the Rev in Minneapolis and St. Paul, then Savitri joining him in Los Angeles and Pasadena. They return to the 40 voice gospel singathon at the Christmas Revival at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Saturday December 12th. Then on the 17th, 18th and 19th, the full choir buses up to Albany, Troy and east to Greenfield, Massachusetts.

Michael Schmidt calls police because of threat from an MNR officer, and Grey County Chief Medical Officer of Health, Hazel Lynn gets a $100,000 pay raise

There’s certainly a poignant human story behind the recent events described below. As we understand it, when Susan Atherton approached Michael Schmidt about becoming a cow share member in the fall of 2006 she told him she was sick and hoped that the drinking raw milk would help improve her health — a common enough sentiment among those who seek out raw milk. Of course, seeing as how it turns out she became a cow-share member to obtain milk samples for the government, she probably never did get to drink any. So it’s little wonder that Michael was concerned about how she was doing and decided to give her a call.

Government agent/cow share member Susan Atherton/Susan Taylor investigates the barn where the cows are kept at Glencolton Farms during her undercover operations there in the autumn of 2006.

The world is a strange place, or maybe Canada is a strange place.

Hazel Lynn Chief Medical Officer of Health in our region gets a pay raise of $100,000. She now makes $275.000 a year plus expenses. For what?

Raw milk breakthrough in Michigan

A process of meetings and dialog involving raw milk advocates and regulators, such as Michael Schmidt has long asked for in Ontario, is beginning to yield fruit in Michigan. Here’s part of what David E. Gumpert, of the Complete Patient blog reports about recent exciting developments in that process:

“Did you ever think you’d see this statement endorsed by dairy regulators?

“Milk fresh from the cow is a complete, living, functional food…the full benefits…are only realized when all of these components function as a complex interdependent and balanced process.”

Or how about this:

“Of all the milk constituents, the milk fat globule is the most drastically altered by the combination of pasteurization and homogenization.”

After endless reassurances from scientists and other officials in public health, agriculture, medicine, and government that there’s no difference between pasteurized and unpasteurized milk, we are now being told something entirely different by an organization that includes top dairy regulators and an agriculture university dean (along with a number of raw milk proponents). The organization is the Michigan Fresh Unprocessed Whole Milk Workgroup, which includes among its members the two top dairy officials of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and a dean of the Michigan State University College of Agriculture.

A brief history of raw milk in Ontario

This chronology is admittedly not all inclusive as it focuses solely on Glencolton Farms and Michael Schmidt. Other raw milk producers have certainly been operating in the province during these years. However, we unfortunately don’t have sufficient information on their stories to be able to include them properly in this survey:

Out behind the barns at Glencolton Farms. Photo: Andrea Lemieux

1990 Michael Schmidt starts first cow share model in Ontario at Glencolton Farms

1994 Grey Bruce Health unit raids Glencolton Farms

1994 Charges are laid under the Milk Act and the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Under duress Michael Schmidt pleads guilty to protect his family from further threats. He receives a $3,500 fine and a 2 year probation. Schmidt lost 2/3 of his farm and most of his cows.

From farmers to underclass citizens

A reader writes to Joe Bageant, author of both the book and the blog titled “Deer Hunting with Jesus“:

Author Joe Bageant with friends, in Belize, his second home. Photo Arvin Hill

“…..As for me, I was born working class, well, underclass, truth be told. My dad had been a prosperous farmer post World War Two, but after he lost the farm, he had no other skills to fall back on. He became a house painter, working from dawn till dusk. When his health failed, he became a janitor. My mom was a nurse’s aid at a time when not only didn’t you need a certificate, you didn’t even need to show an 8th grade diploma.

It was my bad fortune to be born long after the farm was gone, so all I ever heard from my parents was how wonderful everything use to be, and how shitty it is now. I was one of those quiet, bookish, pessimistic little kids, having little in common with my parents or peers. But rural poverty will have its effect, and I grew up to hold the same jobs as everybody else, working at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and at gas stations which seemed to change their names every few months. I never had what most would consider a real job. I guess because I never felt I deserved it….” — Dave

And now, an excerpt from Joe Bageant’s reply:

Raw milk a Charter of Rights and Freedoms issue — Karen Selick, Canadian Constitution Foundation

Karen Selick, lawyer with the Canadian Constitution Foundation, being interviewed for television outside the legislature building at Queen's Park, Toronto, November 17, 2009

Here’s the text of a statement presented by Karen Selick, representing the Canadian Constitution Foundation, in support of consumer choice on raw milk. The statement was presented at a news conference at Queen’s Park, Toronto, with raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt. Mr. Schmidt’s farm was raided Nov. 21, 2006. The charges arising from that raid came to trial last January 2009. A verdict is expected January 21, 2010. Here is the Canadian Constitution Foundation statement on the issue, from the CCF website:

“TORONTO: At a press conference at Queen’s Park today, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) announced its support for a court case involving consumer choice, freedom of contract, and the right to earn an honest living free from government regulation that is arbitrary, unreasonable, unnecessary and unfair.

Eldon Dahl v. Health Canada, Bill C-6

Click on image to go to YouTube and watch video report from Jan. 2009

Dr. Eldon Dahl is a naturopathic doctor whose home was raided by the RCMP and Health Canada about a year ago. From his description below it sounds as if what happened at his home was very much like what happened at the Manna Storehouse Coop in Ohio last December, and, for that matter, at Michael Schmidt’s Glencolton Farms 3 years ago. In his case however, it seems to have been about vitamins that someone, apparently, didn’t want him to have. The video above and those linked to mid-way down the letter were made in January 2009. The letter that follows was written recently and was addressed to members of Canada’s Senate, which, as far as we know, is still contemplating the passage of Bill C-6. Thanks to Gordon Watson for passing this news item on to the Bovine. It’s hard to know what to make of raids like this, whether to take them at face value, or to read into them an attempt to cow others and spread fear of the government.

Michael Schmidt’s Nov. 17, ’09 Queen’s Park press conference statement

Raw milk farmer Michael Schmidt with lawyer Karen Selick of the Canadian Constitution Foundation at recent Queen's Park press conference Nov. 17, 2009. Media, MPPs and supporters were in attendance.

November 21, 2009 is the 3rd anniversary of the armed raid on Glencolton Farms to shut down a successful legitimate local food operation, which provided amongst many other products fresh raw milk to its members.

I am here at Queens Park today for the 5th time to update the Premier his Ministers the MPP’s and the press about the current status in relation to the raw milk issue.

Canada and Ontario has a special significance in this world wide battle for food rights because of its total prohibition to sell or distribute milk which is not pasteurized.

It is crucial to take notice that there is no ban to consume raw milk.

In the last three years our battle here in Ontario gained world wide attention partially due to the reputation that Canada still claims to be the best and freest country in the world.

Vegetarian mythologies

Here’s a fascinating excerpt from a review on Marjorie Tietjen’s “Lyme Disease Sentinel blog” of Lierre Keith’s book “The Vegetarian Myth”:

Enduring controversy over vegetarian diets.

The author practiced a vegan lifestyle for approximately 20 years and she strongly feels that her health was destroyed by her total avoidance of all animal products. Her declining health and her aching desire to follow the ways of nature in a humane fashion motivated her to conduct further research and to write this groundbreaking book. She had tried desperately to be vegan and organic, hoping not to have to take life in order to preserve her own. However the more frantically she tried, the sicker she became and the more she realized that in order for something to live, it has to take the life of another….whether directly or indirectly. Keith softens this hard fact a bit by saying that we all take turns giving our life for the benefit of other life. While the reader might not agree with everything Keith has to say, this book is a compelling read and provides much food for thought for vegetarians, vegans and omnivores.

How far can we trust corporate science?

One of the sticking points in helping people wake up to the realities around them is the apparent collusion of many scientists and governments with corporate anti-human agendas. Dr. Mercola has kindly put together a couple of examples of this species of science in the report this is excerpted from. He titles his story: “Can you really trust Monsanto — how they corrupted science”.

Man at the centre of the controversy -- was he right, or "politically incorrect"? Or both?

“… Dr. Arpad Pusztai was considered the world expert on GM foods with more than 270 published studies relating to the subject. He was working at the Rowett Institute in Aberdeen, Scotland, when he was interviewed for a World in Action television documentary on August 10, 1998. What he said was to destroy his career because of the reaction of Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, puppets of Monsanto and the biotech industry.

Dr. Pusztai told the program that rats fed on certain GM potatoes had suffered stunted growth, damage to the immune system, and their liver, heart and other organs got smaller. He later said this was also the case with the brain, but he had not mentioned that in the TV interview to avoid being ”alarmist.” However, he did say this of GM food: “If I had the choice, I would certainly not eat it.”

On the evening the interview was broadcast, Dr. Pusztai was congratulated for his contribution by Professor Philip James, director of the Rowett Institute. The next morning, the institute issued a press release highlighting that a ”range of carefully controlled studies underlie the basis of Dr. Pusztai’s concerns.”