Industry wants federal law to prohibit state-level GMO labeling legislation

From Michele Simon on Civil Eats:

“With the disappointing results now in from I-522, the initiative in Washington State that would have required labeling of genetically-engineered food (aka GMOs), the looming question is, what’s next? At least for the junk food lobby, that answer in painfully clear: stop this state-level movement at any cost. In today’s New York Times, Stephanie Strom reports on the dirty details contained in industry documents that I obtained from the Washington State attorney general’s office in the wake of a lawsuit brought against the Grocery Manufacturers Association for illegally concealing donors to the No on 522 campaign.

As I explained back in February, the food industry’s ultimate game plan to stop the bleeding in the state-by-state onslaught of GMO labeling efforts is to lobby for a weak federal law that simultaneously preempts or trumps any state-level policy. While we have known that industry would want to put an end to the public relations nightmare happening state by state, this document for the first time reveals the lobbyists’ specific strategy.

The State of Raw Milk in Illinois

From the Midlife Farm Wife blog:

The wheels of raw milk move slowly in Illinois. Photo via Midlife Farmwife blog.

“Last week , September 10, our group of pro-raw milk individuals, made up of farmers and consumers, met again with representatives from the Illinois Department of Public Health.  It was our 4th mtg with them. We entered the meeting in good spirits, I mean after all at the last two meetings we had made real progress…didn’t we?

State interference in parenting choices?

A word to the wise from Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist:

Mother and baby, photo via The Healthy Home Economist

“Warning to all parents who make healthy homemade baby formula for their children instead of feeding them toxic, GMO laced commercial formula.

DON’T tell a conventionally minded doctor about it else your baby might end up in foster care!

This is the nightmare Alorah Gellerson of Brooklin, Maine is experiencing right now because she made the mistake of telling her doctor about the homemade goat milk formula she proudly and carefully makes for her healthy, happy, three-month old son Carson.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) quickly responded when the doctor reported Alorah and that’s when things got messy.

Maine towns’ food sovereignty laws to be tested in upcoming court case

From David E. Gumpert, on the Complete Patient blog:

“I’ve spent the last few days reading through the most recent filings in the Maine Food Sovereignty case.

If the potential importance of a food rights case could be measured in the heavy weight of the many pages of these initial arguments, this is a serious case. In this initial phase, each side has moved for summary judgment–that the judge in the case decide in its favor as a matter of law.  

State agent inspects kids’ bag lunches

What’s the take home lesson here? They’re teaching kids it’s normal for government to interfere in the minutae of your life and to tell you what you may and may not eat.

From Sara Burrows, in the Carolina Journal Online:

From the Carolina Journal Online

“RAEFORD — A preschooler at West Hoke Elementary School ate three chicken nuggets for lunch Jan. 30 because a state employee told her the lunch her mother packed was not nutritious.

The girl’s turkey and cheese sandwich, banana, potato chips, and apple juice did not meet U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, according to the interpretation of the agent who was inspecting all lunch boxes in her More at Four classroom that day.

Things you just can’t say on Facebook

Here’s one of them apparently. I try and try but this post won’t go through:

Click image above to go to the Dammit Janet post.

Was it something I said?

Local Chicago ice cream makers may be shut down by the state for silly reasons

From Monica Eng and Chris Borrelli in the Chicago Tribune:

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“A few years ago, Kris Swanberg, having been laid-off from her job as a Chicago Public School teacher, remembered she received an ice cream maker as a wedding gift. The Chicago mom fished it out of her kitchen cabinet and eventually started a new career.

Today Swanberg’s Nice Cream — on offer at local Whole Foods and farmers markets — is considered a star of Chicago’s rich and beloved artisanal ice cream scene, one that could be shut down entirely by state rules, she recently learned.

Latest Rawsome raw milk raid stories picked up by the Drudge Report — the folks who brought you Monica Lewinski

Excerpts from several Natural News.com stories on the case:

Counterthink cartoon, made in response to the latest Rawsome raid. Click for source

Breaking News — Multi-Agency Raid on Rawsome Foods in L.A.

“(NaturalNews) This is a NaturalNews exclusive breaking new report. Please credit NaturalNews.com. A multi-agency SWAT-style armed raid was conducted this morning by helmet-wearing, gun-carrying enforcement agents from the LA County Sheriff’s Office, the FDA, the Dept. of Agriculture and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control).

“The Supremes” standing for freedom

From Before It’s News.com:

Picture via Before It's News.com

• Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

• Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Goldwater Institute

6.17.11

Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of the best and most important decisions ever on federalism.  The Court unanimously held that not just states but individuals have standing to challenge federal laws as violations of state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment. This decision is as radical in the direction of liberty as the New Deal was radical in the direction of socialism. Click here to read the decision.

Vaccination and forced child removal

From Vaccine Epidemic.com:

Imagine this. You are an upstanding member of your community. You have a healthy, thriving daughter with a physical disability who is homeschooled. At age 13, she declares that she wants to attend public school. Your daughter is compelled to receive all vaccines mandated by your home state as a requirement for school admission. She is given a “catch up schedule” of shots. Your daughter suffers what appears to be post-vaccinal encephalitis, a serious adverse reaction to her vaccines. Among other developments, her personality changes. She is struggling with emotions and mood. She is very unhappy.

You voluntarily seek help from a local children’s center that helps families with troubled children. As part of the treatment plan, she is prescribed Risperdal, a psychotropic drug. The medication makes things worse. Your daughter is still unhappy, and now she is violent.