Ghosts of the Soviet era haunting U.S.?

How does contemporary America look to a former Soviet refugee? From Igor Birman, in the Orange County Register:

The Raven. Click image for source.

“One of the most haunting impressions of my Soviet childhood was stories my grandparents told about the Black Raven. As a small boy I was terrified of this polished and poised creature of the night, usually sighted as it crouched to swoop upon an unsuspecting victim and carry him away, never to be seen again.

Don’t ask permission to drink raw milk

From guest blogger Richard Walbaum, Author of Natural Law Remedy writing on Hartke is Online.

Photo from demonstration in Maryland by Kimberly Hartke.

“How can government make raw milk illegal which has been legal for thousands of years? How, in a free country, can government oppress, when it has the ability to harmonize? Our government was based upon a several thousand year tradition of natural law having a presumption of liberty which allowed the state to pass any law to protect the general welfare of society, but no law could go beyond necessity to remedy the perceived harm, tailored for minimal infringement upon personal liberties. Absent harm, there could be no legislation. This protected the rights of individuals and society, and made us a free country:

FDA gets to work banning supplements

From David E. Gumpert on the Complete Patient blog:

Drawing from Newsphiles blog. Click image for source.

“One of the distinguishing features of autocrats is that in their frenzy to eliminate enemies, they never finish their work. There are always more enemies lurking in this corner or that.

Old-fashioned dictators like Josef Stalin or Saddam Hussein used to go after people enemies, always finding new plots and traitors.

Our U.S. Food and Drug Administration goes after food and herbs and minerals and vitamins. One by one, or group by group, it seeks to eradicate those it consider threats, ostensibly because of “safety”  concerns, even when no such real-life problem exists.

Catching up on the latest with Ontario raw milk farmer and food freedom advocate, Michael Schmidt

An interview with Canadian raw milk farmer and advocate Michael Schmidt:

Michael Schmidt speaks at the Liberty Summer Seminar in Ontario.

Michael Interview with Michael

M.

Michael as the summer begins to fade many are wanting to know what has happened the last 4 months.

Michael

I returned from the international conference on raw milk in Prague  with the desire to slow down my travels.

In the plane I added up all my flights of the last 12 months related to food rights and raw milk issues: I covered over 75,000 km in the air. That was a shock and a wake up call.

The tyranny of government protection — why we don’t need more regulations

Helkie Ferrie, writing for Vitality magazine:

“There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted… If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life …”

~ Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

Picture via Vitality website.

When the Egyptians informed their president recently that they were fed up with 32 years of government tyranny which had been justified as protection from harm, we all watched in amazement. Few of us realize, though, that in North America and Europe, we are heading for “tyranny light” as our governments determinedly proceed to ensure that we are protected in every which way except the way we want.

On January 6, Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians commented in the Globe & Mail: [Here is] “what you don’t know about a deal you haven’t heard of,” namely the impending Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

Codex Committee squelches dissent

From Alex Jones “Infowars.com”, an excerpt from Brandon Turberville’s book “Codex Alimentarius — the End of Health Freedom“:

29th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses 2007, held in Germany. Photo via Infowars.com

“…The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is the active and controlling arm of Codex. It is the main body that makes recommendations and proposals and is consulted by the FAO and the WHO regarding food safety standards and their implementation. Each year the CAC meets in Rome (at FAO headquarters) and Geneva (WHO headquarters) alternately with delegations from its 182 member countries. The chief delegate to the commission must be a government official or an employee of that country, and it is this individual that decides who will speak for the delegation.  No votes are taken at these meetings, as “consensus,” not voting, is the method of decision making.[1]

“The Raw Milk Revolution” book author David E. Gumpert on Senate Bill S-510

From David’s The Complete Patient blog:

Kelli and Anthony Estrella of Estella Family Creamery. Complete Patient photo

“If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny. — Thomas Jefferson

The writer of the Declaration of Independence and our third president was certainly a prescient man. His dark vision has pretty much come to fruition. And the irony is that most of the millions who suffer the consequences through degraded health haven’t a clue as to what has happened. Our government may be incompetent in many ways, but it is highly skilled at propaganda. Just as most people think the trillions in bailouts to our banks “saved us” from a depression, most also think that “food safety” is about giving the government more power to limit the foods we have access to (and today, the U.S. Senate moved closer to approving S 510 by invoking cloture and thus limiting debate).

Michael Schmidt in Alberta talking to farmers about raw milk strategies

Michael Schmidt reports from Alberta:

Today we gathered with about 15 farmers to discuss strategy and further actions in respect to protecting the various cow share operations in Alberta. People drove over six hours to take part in this session.

Ontario raw milk pioneer Michael Schmidt meets with local farmers Judith and Eric in Alberta today.

There was intensive debate about the Canada Cow Share concept. Standards and training as well the accreditation of farms was discussed in depth.

First they came for the raw milk…

From Russ at the “Volatility” blog:

“I’ve never drank raw milk, but it’s my right to do so. Humanity has done so for tens of thousands of years. On a broader level, we have a human and constitutional right to grow and produce our own food and distribute it among ourselves as citizens. When you read the history books few things stand out as so emblematic of tyranny as feudal designations of all the produce of the land and the farmer as belonging to the king or the nobles.

The Western Standard asks “Is Raw milk more hazardous than tyranny?”

Although it doesn’t reflect the latest findings in the case, this commentary from The Western Standard does indicate that not everyone is drinking the Kool-Aid that’s being dispensed by health officials in B.C.:

“Dr. Perry Kendall, Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia, is warning British Columbians about the alleged hazards of consuming raw milk. This warning comes after the B.C. Centre for Disease Control tested and confirmed fecal contamination in raw milk products distributed recently in the Lower Mainland.

Kendall writes:

There have been several media stories over the past few weeks concerning “raw milk” product consumption in British Columbia. The term “raw” in this case refers to unpasteurized milk.