The Minute Man statue in Lexington. (From Wikipedia)Wisconsin’s milk regulators are determined to force dairy buying club owner Max Kane to turn stool pigeon. They’re hauling him into court tomorrow, terming him “an immediate danger to the public,” to convince a judge to force him to identify the dairy farmers who supply his buying club, under threat of jail.
And they’ve apparently decided that, for maximum symbolic effect, they’ll do it on Patriots’ Day. Yes, Monday is Patriots’ Day, which is the 235th anniversary of the battles of Concord (“the shot heard round the world”) and Lexington, the first battles of America’s Revolutionary War.
Seriously, I wish I could credit Wisconsin’s goons in business suits for appreciating the symbolism of possibly jailing Max Kane on Patriots’ Day, but I doubt they even realize what important historical events it commemorates (though schools are closed in Wisconsin). It happens to be a big deal holiday in Massachusetts (with the running of the Boston Marathon) and throughout New England, where the revolt against British rule escalated, and the early battles of the Revolutionary War were fought.
But the events of April 19, 1775, were prompted by several of the same abuses as Max Kane is experiencing. The British army regularly invaded residents’ homes seeking information about possible “troublemakers” (those fomenting resistance). The British thought nothing of using force to extract their information. Then, they’d throw the “troublemakers” in jail, or worse. It’s for that reason that America’s Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, include the rights against arbitrary search and seizure, and against self incrimination.
Max Kane faces a not dissimilar situation. He is being asked to provide information about DATCP’s version of “troublemakers”— the dairy farms that supply him with raw milk. Then DATCP will try to put them out of business. DATCP also wants the names of raw milk customers. The authorities haven’t yet tried to intimidate raw milk consumers with citations or jail, but then, who knows?
Now, you might say, the law is the law, and selling raw milk is illegal in Wisconsin. The problem is that it’s not entirely illegal—the law allows for “incidental” sales—and DATCP keeps changing its tune about what comprises incidental sales. One of the reasons there are so many dairies selling raw milk in the state, aside from huge demand, is that DATCP has varied from being permissive to its current iron fist approach, which is to be stricter than even the law requires. In other words, it’s entirely arbitrary in enforcing the law.
DATCP figures that by throwing Max Kane, a father with two young children and a wife seven-months pregnant, into jail and throwing away the key (contempt of court violations are essentially indeterminate jail sentences—rot in jail until you give the court what it wants) will force him to testify. As I said, not unlike what the British did to colonial residents.
Unlike colonial times, we do have freedom of speech in this country, and Max Kane has put up a web site in which he describes in a video the details of the state’s efforts to come down on him, and appeals for funds to help his family in the event he goes to jail.
And like many of the “troublemaker” colonists, Max Kane has decided to resist. He says he won’t provide information that could not only incriminate him, but also put hard-working farmers out of business.
As I understand it, Max will have legal representation when he goes to court tomorrow, and that could make a difference. While the big reason he’s in trouble is because of a joint effort by both DATCP and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (look at the emails and other documents on his new web site, which I have written about previously), he definitely didn’t help himself during a court hearing in December when he decided to forego legal representation.
Max could be the first individual in the current raw milk “war” to be jailed. He is willing to pay that penalty for the same reasons America’s patriots were willing to go to war against a seemingly unbeatable enemy in 1775: as he states in the video, he values his liberties too much. Unfortunately,we have a cadre of unelected officials who don’t care much for those freedoms…indeed, see them as inconveniences in their obsessive struggle against food rights. Max Kane deserves our support.
Shame on these public servants for their relentless pursuit of this young man.
If he is deprived of liberty and the foods that are making him well and managing his disease, there will be an uproar.
‘Know your farmer, know your food.’
lola granola says many things. Well, if you don’t want to have a basic permit (like any other food establishment), because you refuse to follow good practices in facility design, sanitation, and testing to protect your customers…then perhaps the best thing would be to not sell your product to the public. Other than a small minority, most customers want good quality and safe food. In the greater realm of public opinion (beyond a fringe movement),don’t you think that most consumers would shun a farmer who opts for civil disobedience instead of getting a darn permit and following basic practices for consumer safety?
permittees are subjected to the jurisdiction of the agency issuing the permit, hence, it’s not about avoiding good husbandry or sanitation practices. those who do not wish to obtain a permit wish to be free from the trammeling of rights described by david in this post.
Your suggestion that you would buy from Scott Trautman is insincere. In case you forgot, the regulators at DATCP have suddenly decided to find all sorts of problems with Scott’s milking barn (a barn which was approved before construction, and which has passed 4 previous inspections), and now they want him to re-build it — not a cheap proposition. They will not give Scott a Grade A license unless he plays along with their game and spends $10,000 to rebuild the milking barn.
None of this sillyness has anything to do with food safety. It has everything to do with keep small farmers under the iron heal of corporate control.
You are right, Scott is concerned about food safety. The changes that DATCP wants him to make to his milking barn would actually make it less safe. But that is not the point. The point is that it is punishment for him speaking out against DATCP.
Scott is in a unique position where he is going to have to fight against the regulators FOR food safety, because DATCP wants raw milk to be as dangerous and risky as possible.
You just do not get it Lykke. The agenda of DATCP is not food safety. It is food fascism.
Max Kane and the many others like him are a living testament to the healing power of raw milk and they will never give up because raw milk is a life or death issue.
We the people will support Max Kane and his family in every way until the public servants remember that their job is to protect and defend life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all the people they serve.
"…Well, if you don’t want to have a basic permit (like any other food establishment), because you refuse to follow good practices in facility design, sanitation, and testing to protect your customers…then perhaps the best thing would be to not sell your product to the public. Other than a small minority, most customers want good quality and safe food. In the greater realm of public opinion (beyond a fringe movement),don’t you think that most consumers would shun a farmer who opts for civil disobedience instead of getting a darn permit and following basic practices for consumer safety? "
I want good quality food. I also want food to be as safe as it can be – all things considered. However, I do not believe that the governments or regulators are capable of ensuring quality of any type. It’s just that simple.
If my farmer opts for civil disobedience, and I know him, how is that different than knowing my farmer when he does not? If my farmer does not wish to be beholden to the state or fed, and does not want to get a permit, yet can still offer me a product that I like and want, how is this against good practices? A permit does not neccessarily ensure good facility design, nor good sanitation, nor perfect testing. A permit ONLY guarantees that the things you worry about are built to the code that the government offering said permit has established. Yet, that governmental agency may or may not understand all of the inputs that make the product a good or a bad one.
While the various regulatory agencies are good at what they do – regulating stuff – they are not neccessarily offering safety – no matter what they say. They are offering a panacea to people. But a TRUE way to stay safe is to take personal responsibility for what you put in your mouth (and that of your family). Read as much as you can. Stay away from either extreme. Know. Your. Source. Not just the farmer, but everything you can know about what he does and how the food is produced. That will offer the greatest chance at safety. Education for all angles, so that we know just what we are eating.
Also let’s bombard the phone#s listed with calls! Go to http://www.rawmilkparty.com for the names and phone#s.
cheryl.daniels@wi.gov, larry.stringer@fda.hhs.gov, tphillibeck@boah.in.gov, dongoldsmith@fda.hhs.gov, lawrence.terando@fda.hhs.gov, william.weissinger@fda.hhs.gov, Leitzke@datcp.state.wi.us, don.goldsmith@fda.hhs.gov, geraldberg@fda.hhs.gov, essers@michigan.gov, sdivincenzo@idph.state.il.us, MESTES@idph.state.il.us, tom.leitzke@wisconsin.gov, jacqueline.owens@wi.gov
Do I want my food supplier to be free of unconstitutional government regulation? Again…of course.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
BH
http://www.JuicyMaters.com
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/04/raw-milk-an-issue-of-safety-or-freedom/
cp
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/23199238/detail.html
cp
…yet, my beautiful facility – no good.
And – this is critical – WAS Grade A – perfect inspections – DATCP can not allow us to operate while it gets figured out, now can they? NOPE. Because – bottom line – run this guy out of money, that’s the plan. We’re Food Safety – we’re DATCP – NOBODY screws with us without paying the price. Justice delayed – is justice denied, except at DATCP where it is #1 in the strategy book.
We’re going to see on all this.
Scott Trautman, Wisconsin Dairyman
Max Kane wins another round in court! What an utter shame that this young man and his family have been put thru such an ordeal. Never have so many of us that are unable to produce our own raw milk owe so much to Max Kane and the handful of other brave farm families over the last few years that have had the courage to resist that which is CLEARLY WRONG.
Why is DATCP making such a big deal about RAW milk?
Everyday we make food choices, good or bad, it is a personal choice. We weigh the risks and choose according to our own personal preferences.. If a person puts a raw egg in their sports shake or their beer for that matter, they know the risks and they choose to do it. If a person wants a rare, bloody steak, they know the risks and they choose to do it.
Is this against the law? NO! Are there warnings posted? Sure. Can we make the choice for ourselves? ABSOLUTELY!!!
Rather than acting like the Gestapo, why doesn’t DATCP just make another level of permit that allows a farmer to be a raw milk producer? That would solve all of the debate. DATCP gets the fees for the permit, the farmers get to sell the raw milk, and the consumers get to make their God-given right of choice.
Maybe I am over-simplifying this, but doesn’t it all come down to personal choice about what we want to put in our bodies?
MS
The right to life is the most sacred of all rights. Life is only possible through food. ANY regulation, control, prohibition, law, person, or group of persons which comes between a someone and the food he desires violates his sacred right!
No amount of huffing, puffing, crying, smoke and mirrors, laws, regulations, or legal theorizing will change these sacred facts. Nor will it make the lawyers, bureaucrats, corporatists and their cheerleaders anything but the petty tyrants they are. For them to attempt to assert themselves in the food chain violates our most basic truths found in Declaration of Independence and shakes the very foundation of the governments reason for existence.
I am not THAT naive on the subject. It always comes down to money. But who says all parties will be unable to make money from the sale of RAW milk? It isn’t like EVERYONE will choose RAW milk over pasteurized milk. The farmer’s can make more money from the direct sale of RAW milk, that is a no-brainer. But, what people are missing here is the big picture on the sale of RAW milk. If legislation is passed that allows the sale of RAW milk, why wouldn’t resalers buy from the manufacturers (farmers) and put a markup on it and resell it in their stores? That is the whole idea of capitalism. The only people losing out are the processors, but they will still have the pasteurized milk market (It’s not like that will go away.). If they feel threatened at the loss of marketshare, tough! The last time I checked, we do live in America and there is always competition in the marketplace.
But again, the question should be "Isn’t it up to us as consumers what we choose to put into our bodies?"
MS
Welcome to the blog.
It comes down to supply and demand. Even a little drop in the demand creates an oversupply and torpedoes the price. This applies to both health care and food. Grocers and Processors want to keep the farmers as their captive suppliers (working for WORSE than slave wages) and the so-called health care industry cannot tolerate any competition to drugs. Its not just a risk of loosing market share but of people WAKING UP and the whole country undergoing a paradigm shift away from drug based sick care.
They also feel that raw milk will loosen the control they have on the farmers that produce the stuff they profit from. It’s harder to keep prices depressed when there are other opportunities out their for farmers to make a fair price (or better).
Big Dairy feels that they ‘own’ the product that is ‘Milk’..total control of a market, from top to bottom, lends itself to a strong feeling of ownership…and they also fear that raw milk incidences can affect the image of their dead stuff.
Regulatory agencies are made up of former Big Dairy employees…and they take care of their own. Tie in corporate money, industrial research, and the tentacles worm deep, …. their minions are recruited at an early age. Firmly entrenched are they in the power network.
Look at the ties of DATCP officials to Big Dairy and you’ll have your answer why they are abusing their authority, and illegally harassing raw milk farmers.
Max Kane on the Doug Stephan Radio Talk Show
click on Dougs 4/20/10 hour # 2 link and click play bar scroll ahead about 10 minutes to hear Max Kane side of the story. Very interesting.
Max claims the food safety folks decided to go after him with a civil case instead of a criminal case because they did not want him to have a JURY trial according the FOIA papers he received.
One would tend to think that there might be some red faces among the 18 agents on the Max Kane case maybe?
http://www.marlerblog.com/2010/04/articles/legal-cases/as-a-mars-pa-man-is-on-life-support-sally-fallon-spins-her-tales-actually-lies/
cp
About half of the comments were written immediately after the post was put up. (It was good to reread miguels dominant message the one he has supported many times over the last three years.) The second half of the comments were written well into 2007 and provide deeper understanding.
The post and comments provide lots of background and insight mostly forgotten now into events and circumstances regarding the Southern California e. coli illnesses of 2006. I thought it was rather illuminating.
Too bad they just want to blame the boogyman "raw milk."
Perhaps we ought to be asking — How did the milk become contaminated? After all, milk can be contaminated from many sources, including dairy processing enviroment, post-pastuerization (I see this every day at work…)
Or perhaps, we ought to be asking, why do to the health authorities (such as yourself) prefer to blame advocates of raw milk, instead of actually trying to understand where the illness came from?
Or even better, perhaps, we ought to be asking why this issue is so contraversial, despite the fact that it pales in comparison to the death rates from FDA drugs, and conventionally processed foods.
CP, your agenda could not be more clear. You are not concerned with public health. You are concerned with upholding the profits of pharmicutical and food processing corporations. Why do I hear no loud outcry from you about Avandia, or hydrogenated oils, or HFCS, or other highly processed foods?
As the saying goes — Killing one is murder. Killing millions is foreign policy.
Today, the death of millions has become domestic policy of the FDA.
Welcome to America. Congratulations, CP, on the death tolls yours professions has created. I’m so proud of the falsified "public health" accomplishments you particiate in. Before you know it, we will all be dead from the sterile, mass produced food you coercively impose upon us.
Cities like Albuquerque don’t have as many trees as most towns, but the few trees that are there, combined with the hot, dry and often windy weather, can create big problems for allergy sufferers.
Well, we can be sure thats true, but what do we make of it? And what would be a reasonable response? The city of Albuquerque, confidently couched in their germ-theory, fight-against-nature paradigm, banned the planting of certain trees!
Nobody seems to have an interest or a clue as to why allergies should be a serious problem now, after so many generations (or perhaps their vision of our past is of a continuously miserable, sneezing, watery-eyed people) but there was no hesitation about getting government involved to declare trees the enemy and write ordinances against them (enforced with $500 fines).
How could we have allowed ourselves to lose perspective so completely that we find efforts to control nature preferable to promoting health?
Raw milk drinkers: Does this sound familiar?