Vaccination choice movement growing in West Virginia, says TV news story

From Augie, at the Journal of Natural Food and Healing:

“The vaccination choice movement is growing fast. Today, I was at a Gun Show and spoke to many young fathers and mothers–some pregnant and some holding babies or had them in strollers. They were very concerned about the safety and need for so many vaccinations. They wanted several of our vaccination choice flyers to give at work, at school or their moms club.

One worked at a day care center and is going to hand them out to all the young mothers. No sooner I got home, Ann Daschel, an editor of Age of Autism, alerted me to this excellent TV news coverage–and it is fair and balanced–and focuses more on the right to choose and vaccine-injured children. This is in West Virginia–one of the strictest vaccine before education [states] in the nation.  (I have clipped the news story under fair use for education under the copyright law.)…”

Victory for Ayahuasca-using Church

From Richard Glen Boire, on the Centre for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics website:

Members of the ayahuasca-using religious group known as the Uniao do Vegetal (UDV), won a major legal victory on Monday (August 12, 2002), when a federal court ruled that the group’s use of ayahuasca was likely protected under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Ayahuasca (also known as hoasca) is a visionary tea that serves as the sacrament of the UDV religion. In May 1999, US Customs agents seized several bottles of ayahuasca imported from Brazil for use by members of UDV’s US Branch headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

According to the US government, ayahuasca is an illegal controlled substance in the same class as LSD, because it contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) a “hallucinogenic” drug under the US Controlled Substance Act (CSA). In Brazil, ayahuasca is legal and is expressly recognized as the sacrament of several Brazilian-based churches, including the UDV.

Raw milk rallies coast to coast on Nov 23 “Food Freedom Day” in Canada

Thanks to all the contributors; we’re still hoping to hear from a few more cities:

Raw milk and cookies; so good, so illegal -- from Victoria B.C. Photo: Kemal Holubeshen

First three Victoria pictures are from the Facebook album of  Kemal Holubeshen

From co-organizer of the Victoria rally, Nadine Ijaz: “Some pics from our Victoria BC Food Freedom Rally today at the Legislature, with Shelby the cow with Kerry Van Wiltenburg, Shakti the cow with herdshare farmer Jan Steinman, four MLAS (Lana Popham, Jenny Kwan, Mike Farnworth and Nicholas Simons), local activists including Nadine E. Ijaz and Jackie Ingram, and about 85 others. Plus two public health officials filming Jan Steinman as he openly engages in civil disobedience by milking his goat and sharing the milk with a shareholder. We are hopeful on the Coast.

“Food Freedom Day” November 23rd!

From Michael Schmidt:

November 23. Rallies across Canada mark the first National Day for Responsible Food Freedom

There will be rallies and events across Canada to celebrate and assert our fundamental rights as it pertains to our body and our food.

As 25 armed officers raided our farm 5 years ago I announced thereafter that this date will go down in history as a turning point in regards to our willingness to resist and our willingness to stand up to unjust laws.

In the great tradition of the civil rights movement and many brave and fearless leaders we begin to understand more and more our responsibility to act, to act without fear, to act with wisdom, to act with compassion for those who do not understand the consequences of inaction.

“Governments should back off in raw milk fight” — the Sudbury Star

From Bill Glisky, in the Sudbury Star:

Activist and mom Liz Reitzig at Tuesday's FDA "Milk and Cookies" protest rally. Photo by Kimberly Hartke

“No one would argue that governments have a vital role in protecting health and safety.

The issue is with how far any government goes in providing that protection.

In May, we noted how the provincial health ministry had stepped beyond the realm of protecting us from bad eggs to protecting us from our own judgements by cracking down on eggs being sold at farmers markets.

The same situation exists with raw milk, where Ontario farmer Michael Schmidt is in the midst of a long court battle over his selling and distribution of unpasteurized milk.

“Up to individuals as well as parents to make their own decisions when it comes to what they eat and drink” — Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq

Canada's Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq. Click image for source.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq: “I firmly believe it is up to individuals as well as parents to make their own decisions when it comes to what they eat and what they drink. That’s why our focus is on giving people the information they need to make good, informed decisions,”

As in the case of raw milk for instance!

California’s Santa Cruz County passes Food Freedom resolution to protect private cowshares and food freedom

As reported in the Local Food Freedom — Nevada County blog.

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County of Santa Cruz

BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

RE: RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS TO GROW AND CONSUME THEIR OWN FOOD PRODUCTS AND TO ENTER INTO PRIVATE CONTRACTS WITH OTHER INDIVIDUALS TO BOARD ANIMALS FOR FOOD

Dear Members of the Board:

For many years, Santa Cruz County has been at the forefront of the local food movement. It has long been recognized that eating locally and growing your own food supports sustainability, local farmers, and healthy eating.

Appeal verdict decision in Michael Schmidt raw milk case postponed til “sometime next week”

That’s according to an email from Michael’s lawyer, Karen Selick at 1:54 pm Thursday Sept. 15, 2011.

Child drinks milk direct from a cow in Cambodia. Photo via Michael Schmidt.

Here’s what she wrote:

Amish hate us for our pasteurized milk

From Karen de Coster on Lew Rockwell.com:

Note: Video above not directly related to the story.

“The government’s war on raw milk is not only a war on freedom, but it is also a jihad against that old-fashioned (and very obsolete) notion that your health is your responsibility. The state does not want its subjects to be self-sufficient, self-educated, and gaining power through knowledge. Because knowledge is power – the power to question conventional wisdom and reject conformity is a blessed thing for individuals and society, but it is a menace to the authoritarians and conformists.

Got (raw) milk? — disconnect grows between government and the people

From Fredericksburg.com:

Morgan the cow on Capitol hill in Washington D.C. during recent protest. Photo via Overoll.com

“AMERICA, sleep well. After a year of surveillance, an undercover operation, and a pre-dawn raid by gun-toting U.S. marshals, the country is safe from an Amish farmer. Dan Allgyer’s crime? Selling unpasteurized milk to a food co-op in the Washington area.

But raw-milk advocates, the feds are learning, do not go down easily. About 400 people protesting Mr. Allgyer’s arrest arrived on Capitol Hill earlier this month with a cow named Morgan, a milking stool, plastic cups, and plenty of passion. Toasting their favorite drink, they pointed out that the signers of the Constitution also drank raw milk and proclaimed “the right to choose what to eat and drink” without government interference.