Might Californians Be Leading the Way in Teaching Us How to Turn Lemons into Lemonade?
Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 10:06PM 
As I read Mark McAfee’s comment on my most recent posting, I was reminded of Sylvia’s note earlier this week that her co-op was out of both Organic Pastures and Cloverdale Farm raw milk, and that there were limitations on sales in any event.
A run on raw milk in anticipation of a possible decrease in availability come January 1? Maybe, but even allowing for freezing, there is only so much raw milk that individuals can store. No, my guess is that there is something to Mark’s observation following my posting yesterday:
“Everyone is getting an education on the subject. By the end of this, many of the assembly and legislature will be drinking raw milk...guaranteed!!”
Each time the authorities crack down on raw milk, whether in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or New York, they wind up shooting themselves in the foot, because inevitably the crackdowns serves as free advertising for raw milk. But because California is the largest raw milk market, and tends to lead the nation in political and cultural trends, the current push over coliforms in milk stands out.
In fact, Mark ought to consider classifying his lobbyist and lawyer fees as marketing/promotion expenses. Admittedly, not the most predictable marketing/promotion expenses around. But in terms of cost-per-thousand consumers reached, Mark has to be getting a great bargain.
Seriously, though, if Californians are successful in reversing AB1735, we could well be seeing the beginnings of a serious consumer movement against government infringement of our nutritional rights. Within such a movement, the most important effect could be broad education of consumers about not only the threats to our food, but the opportunities for change.
The war is far from over, but it would sure be neat if the AB1735 battle turned out to be a turning point.
Reader Comments (2)
I was a bit taken aback and amused to find out that we Californians sure do have some strange bedfellows just as ready and rarin’ for a bare-knuckled fight against the California Milk Processor Board as we are: PETA!
Either I’m hysterical from this AB 1735 slugfest or PETA’s new “Got Pus?” campaign really is funny!
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/get-squeamish/?hp
Also, I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of you out-of-staters out there chipping in on this battlefront. I can tell you that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office was less than appreciative when I suggested that Arnold follow the leadership example of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who has stepped in and ordered the Wolff’s bad dairy rule shelved while he reviews it himself. The Governor’s rep asked me in a stern tone, “Are you calling from California?” as if to be looking for an opportunity to reprimand me for daring to call the Governor’s office in the first place. But it also suggested to me that many out-of-state callers have been contributing to the heat we are helping Arnold to feel.
So thanks again very much, America.
As I understand it, tomorrow is our last best hope for calling that Governor who, from what I can tell from my telephone conversations with his representatives, has every intention of acting as the evil Terminator of our vital right of access to raw milk. My message will be simple:
“There is nothing in the world stopping Governor Schwarzenegger from setting the wrongs to right and scrawling out an executive order on a piece of paper suspending or reversing AB 1735.”
“So, is he going to sign an order suspending or reversing AB 1735?”
“If not, why not?”
Then I will patiently keep asking this same question as long as necessary until I receive a concrete answer.
I would urge everyone reading this blog to do the same thing today, Friday December 14, 2007.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
In fact, Schwarzenegger’s representatives smugly trumpet, “He thinks it [AB 1735] is a good piece of legislation; that’s why he signed it.” Does he intend to sign an order suspending or reversing it before January 1, 2008? “No.”
Schwarzenegger could care less about my vital bodily health, or “my concerns,” as his reps like to refer to my testimony.
Grass-fed, fresh Raw Colostrum from the Organic Pastures Dairy Company in Fresno, California, saved my life from Crohn’s disease beginning in June 2005 after 3 trips to the emergency room and 2 subspecialty gastroenterologists (1 allopathic, 1 integrative) left me hanging as a rail-thin thread—Kwashiorkor and all.
Instead, Schwarzenegger is hoping that I will fall into a deprivation-induced relapse and wind up in the ER again because this comic superhero dictator has his own healthcare answer that he has decided for me already!
Schwarzenegger wants to force me under threat of governmental wage garnishment and state tax penalties to go buy a worthless Blue Cross of California health insurance policy for $16,380 per year (not including the financial costs associated with my pre-existing health history, exclusions of coverage, denials of coverage, deductibles and co-pays). Other than money down the toilet for Arnold + Blue Cross, there is only one tiny vital problem: Can you name one single Big Pharma drug that can cure Crohn’s disease?
Obviously the pus-pushing, industrial “dairy-like” processing and manufactured groceries Dooleys won the Sacramento greed war.
But wait, there’s more! If he can’t make you sick through deprivation and bankruptcy, Schwarzenegger & his California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) will come after you with their new experiment of spray-bombing humans with pesticides. Never mind that old-fashioned Nazi-era Nuremburg Convention or even that it’s a false agricultural moth emergency in the first place. (Remind you of the false raw milk emergency recall of 2006?) Don’t worry, the CDFA can always find another false agricultural emergency at will—and you and me and the planet must pay and pay and pay until we make our last payment with our lives…
http://www.1hope.org/chkmate.htm
http://www.newstarget.com/022158.html
Welcome to Schwarzenegger’s Hotel California.