Wars Don't Take Time Off for Vacation--Fighting The State on Three Fronts Last Week; WI DATCP "Mafiosos"
Saturday, August 28, 2010 at 05:29PM I spent last evening reading through a week's worth of emails. I had figured late August would be a good time to take a week off, as in completely off everything--not only email, but cell phone, Internet, radio, television, etc., etc. More about what I did on my summer vacation another time, but obviously, the pace of legal developments around raw milk, and food rights, did not abate. Far from it.
The struggle for access to nutritionally-dense food has evolved itn a multi-front war, and the action is becoming hot and heavy, with little respect for vacation timetables...or individual rights. Counteroffenses are being fought, where skilled attorneys are willing to take up the struggle. Here are three key developments over the last week:
-- The government opts for a harassment strategy--for now--in the Rawesome Foods case. The Rawesome Foods case in the Venice section of Los Angeles bears very close watching in the food rights war. Remember, the June raid on Rawesome included law enforcement representatives from all government levels--local (Los Angeles District Attorney and Department of Public Health), state (California Deparment of Food and Agriculture), and federal (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation). It was a totally coordinated surprise assault, with agents' guns drawn. In other words, the full power of The State apparatus being brought to bear to eliminate one community's access to raw milk, raw honey, fermented foods, pastured eggs, and so forth. So you have to assume that any follow-on action will continue to be carefully coordinated at all State levels, with approval by all parties.
The big question following the raid was what The State's follow-on action would be. A California challenge to the food club's lease arrangements? An FDA challenge to the interstate shipment of raw milk? No, The State has opted for a simple local tactic: harassment, in the form of a building code challenge.
Here is how Aajonus Vonderplanitz, a founder of Rawesome, explains the latest development: "The government is trying every means to close us so that we cannot provide our members with their own healthy food that we have worked so hard to make available. Because they have not been able to close us on health-issues and our Right to Association, they are trying building-safety-violation tactics. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS) has issued a closure notice...Since this is not a residence or public food venture, this entire issue is probably moot and can be dismissed by a judge when applying for an injunction against LA City.
"To buy time, I am reluctant to ask for an appeal because that may give it jurisdiction that they do not have because we are not selling anything (as stated in its notice) and we are not open to public. Right to Choose Healthy Food/Rawesome has a charity-based agreement with the owners of the property to use the lot as a distribution center and our members have agreed that the buildings that exist are adequate for their needs as per membership agreement (see attached)."
Vonderplanitz concludes with an appeal for "all willing attorneys to help us fight this fast." I know Rawesome has some attorney members who were outspoken in their outrage immediately after the raid. Hopefully one or more of them will take up the appeal. If anyone else is interested, get in touch with me for contact information to reach Vonderplanitz.
2. Massachusetts retracts the Cease-and-Desist order against Brigitte Ruthman's single-cow herdshare. As Vonderplanitz indicates, the war is at a stage where skilled lawyers are more important than ever in fighting the government assault. Ruthman has engaged a lawyer, and in response to her request for discussions, and threat to file suit, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has rescinded the order hand-delivered by an agriculture inspector to the dairy farmer last month.
The letter and MDAR response are worth reading. Essentially, Ruthman threatened to file suit unless MDAR engaged in discussions on the herdshare question, and MDAR quickly responded by withdrawing the cease-and-desist and agreeing to discussions. The MDAR's letter, however, insists that its position in going after the herdshare is the correct one--even citing the New York case involving Meadowsweet Dairy to back up its claim. Still, should negotiations fail, the suit can be filed.
3. The FTCLDF survives round one in its suit against the FDA, and wins points in the process. At first glance, it appears as if the federal district judge is providing only a slender opening to the FTCLDF by suggesting in his 56-page decision that the legal organization file a citizen petition to the FDA over the interstate ban on raw milk sales. Of course, everyone knows the FDA wants to continue enforcing its ban. But the judge leaves open continuation of the suit should the FDA do the expected.
Moreover, the judge indicates in the decision that he doesn't approve of key aspects of the FDA's argument. As one example, he uses the case in which Eric Wagoner and other Georgia consumers were forced to dump raw milk transported from South Carolina last September to take issue with FDA claims it hasn't enforced the interstate raw milk ban on individual consumers.
He states: "The direct purchaser plaintiffs also contend that the FDA's direction that plaintiff Wagoner destroy the raw milk that he had purchased for himself, along with all of the other raw milk that he was transporting from South Carolina to Georgia for distribution to members of his virtual farmers' market, demonstrates that there is not only a credible threat that the FDA will enforce the regulations against a direct purchaser plaintiff, but that the FDA has actually done so. On the present record, the court must take as true the plaintiffs' allegations that Wagoner was told to destroy the raw milk that he was transporting across state lines for himself, because he had purchased it for himself, as well
as the raw milk that he was transporting across state lines to distribute to others. The FDA has made no attempt to present evidence that it neither ordered Wagoner to destroy the raw milk, state officials did, nor ordered Wagoner to destroy the raw milk because he was attempting to transport some of the raw milk across state lines for his own consumption. Thus, on the present record, the direct purchaser plaintiffs have made sufficient showing that they face a credible threat of injury to have standing."
In a number of other places, the judge seems similarly skeptical of the FDA's assertions. Perhaps most important, he seems to take the case seriously. That's not good news for the FDA.
Although there are some encouraging developments over the last week, it's important to remember that our government is quite adept at waging war. And key elements of the government establishment are lusting for action--how else do you explain Los Angeles bureaucrats spending time in late August going after a tiny food distributor? Slash-and-burn, shock-and-awe, diversionary tactics--they're all part of the repertoire. It promises to be a long-term struggle.
***
While I view the struggle as a war, Wisconsin buying club owner Max Kane, who has been the subject of several direct assaults, likes to view the enemy as akin to a mafioso family. He's assigned mafia roles to key officials of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in a new video that opens in dramatic fashion. This one is devoted to examining the three raids intended to shut down Wisconsin raw dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger. (If you have trouble viewing the video here, you can see it here on YouTube.)
***
Thanks again to Steve Bemis for an excellent blog post last week.
Reader Comments (40)
You do not work for the people of the state of Wisconsin. You work for a private corporation whose owners are not known to us. Are you aware of this? This information is from manta.com; they get their information from Dunn & Bradstreet. Try entering the name of any governmental agency. They're all private corporations, from the federal government all the way down to your county.
"Wisconsin Department Of Agriculture Trade And Consumer Protection is a private company categorized under Regulation of Agricultural Marketing and located in Madison, WI. Our records show it was established in 1966 and incorporated in Wisconsin."
http://www.manta.com/c/mm0cqc8/wisconsin-department-of-agriculture-trade-and-consumer-protection
The DATCP board is not a citizens panel as they want you to believe; it is the board of directors for a privately-held corporation. If you do not work for the people, who do you work for? You need to answer this question to yourself before you raid another farm who has harmed no one.
A line is being drawn in the sand. Many people can now see that our country has been overrun by fascists (fascist meaning a blending of government and corporate power) and we will not tolerate it any longer. Which side are you on? If S510 passes, are you prepared to come into my home and tell me that I can't grow a garden or can my own food? Is this the legacy you want to leave to your grandchildren? Will you be able to look them in the eye and say, I had a hand in destroying all freedom in America?
Where do you derive your power to rule over the people? Most definitely not from the people, as is stated in the Constitution. Your power is derived in the uniform you wear and the badge you carry. Without these, what power over me do you have? You derive your power from a piece of plastic the size of a credit card. Pathetic.
Wisconsin has a $5.5 billion budget shortfall; we recently borrowed $1.4 billion to make ends meet. How much longer are you expecting to get a paycheck? The economic pundits (the ones who are honest, that is, and not corporate puppets) are predicting that the stock market will crash and we'll be plunged into a depression that makes the 1930s pale in comparison. Do you think your retirement $ is safe? Do you really believe that Social Security will be around when you retire? The dollar is already almost down the drain and hyperinflation is not far behind.
If you chase all of the small farmers out of business, you too will be forced to eat genetically modified, processed phoods grown in China, laced with poisons and with no nutritional value. Perhaps you haven't read the studies that link GMOs to infertility and cancer. Great legacy.
A line has been drawn and you know it. It's time to choose. Which side are you on?
I hope you got some well deserved time off to recharge....
Two things:
I support Max Cane and his expose of the Corrupt Fascist Mafia Cartel in Wisconsin. I must agree that this is a war....for those of you weak at heart and wanting to embrace passivism...I have seen the bodies. When I was a paramedic I placed my hands on their chests and put ET tubes down their trachea's. I pushed epinephrine dextrose into their veins and many died anyway. Tens of thousands of Americans die needlessly every year because of the retched and corrupt corporations that serve their CEO's and NASDAQ stocks and not the moral foundations of consumers health. As Michael Schmidt said it so well...this is a war.
The war is unconventional....but becoming more and more conventional and exposed.
If playing nice and negotiating is a part of the plan....it takes place much later after much pain is inflicted and much carpet bombing is delivered. Then they will beg for a repreave and give us our liberty and our food rights. At this time at this place in Wisconsin however...it is a war.
Second thing:
I am in shock.....A completely unexpected wower....hit me on Thursday afternoon. This is 100% true and is something I never thought would ever or could ever happen.
The arch nemisis of OPDC has been historically the FDA and CDFA. Well maybe not so much any more. Miracles do happen after much "carpet bombing and deep pain has been inflicted ( remember 2008 and Dean Florez and SB 201 and the "FDA and CDFA no show" and all the pissed off Moms etc the Raw Milk hearings until Midnight at the state capitol !!).
I get a call from two FOX 11 news Producers ( Martin and Heidi ) in LA. They said that they were looking for someone to speak on live TV that evening about the massive 500 million egg recall. They said that they had called CDFA and CDFA has sent them to me!!!???!!! That is when my head started to spin???
Why would CDFA send the TV Cameras and Microphone to me?? But they did.
After much though I think I will send them a letter of thanks.
The interview went very well and the guy they had speak for industry was a pro-irradiation guy that rents himself out as a food safety expert bla bla bla.
You see for yourself....the feedback has been great...
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/consumer/eggs-at-local-organic-farm-are-safe-20100826
Welcome back David...the battle rages. But perhaps less so in parts of CA politics....I am still not sure what to think of this. Umpqua Dairy in Oregon had a massive recall of pasteurized products.....maybe organic biodiverse systems are starting to make sense to someone.
They are not all stupid and bought off. Times are changing painfully.
Mark
I would add my own twist to this: I don't think this patriarchal, enviromentally destructive, imperialist industrial system will ever be successfully overturned by legal, judicial, or political means. Ultimately, the way to overturn the system is to create a social movement which is so democratic and resiliant in the face of adversity, and which is modelled after natural systems, that it can successfully displace western civilization when it fails (because it will fail, as it has many times before)
In a word: Permaculture!
Do not hear much from CP, Lykke or Regulator much these days....I guess nothing to brag about with the huge recalls of CAFO Umpqua pastuerized dairy products and CAFO eggs sickening the masses.
Their glorious perfect solution has become toxic polution.
Mark
-Bill Anderson
(no longer in Wisconsin, now in Ohio!)
Here's another one I saw from your state on the eggs. Seems pretty balanced.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/26/jay.russell.payne.eggs/index.html?npt=NP1
MW
Please explain the following statement:
"...but I don't think you are pointing out anything special or unique about the time or place in which we live."
Please explain how a corporate-structured government, which goes against the Constitution and anything we have been taught in schools and by the media, with all of the legal ramifications of such a structure, are not relevant to our fight to regain our food rights.
(And saying that that's just the way it is because corporations have been around for a long time is a non-answer.)
I anxiously await your reply.
Lola
I've been reading here for a long time, but finally had to register to leave a comment. My kids and I just watched Mark on the Fox News clip and we all agreed that he appears far healthier than his pasteurization counterpart. As they say, "The proof is in the pudding!" (Or milk, as the case may be.)
Gail
I wouldn't argue with you about the relevance of the corporate structure. It is certainly relevant.
Where we might disagree is whether this is inherint to our system of government. I would maintain that it is inherint to our system of government.
I would agree that our government goes against the Constitution, which itself was a deeply flawed document, written by wealthy slave holding artistocrats seeking to centralize political power and pay off war debts, legitimized slavery, and ran in direct contradiction to the Articles of Confederation. Further, this government has been going against its own constitution essentially since it was formed. The Alien and Sedition Acts are one of the earliest examples.
IMO, its best not to encourage an unhealthy obsession with the Constitution. There are many more compelling and universal reasons to support food soveriegnty and food rights.
It really did help that he was actually a dunce....
You did not see the rest of his physical self....he was very unhealthy and could not wear regular shoes. He either had serious gout or diabetes. His feet appeared very swollen and he had a large pedulace abdomen. The retired paramedic inside of me wanted to reach out and give him some nutritional advice....but it seemed to be very poor form given we were on FOX TV and live. His advice followed his health....
Better living through chemistry and science....it appears that evidence based science and medicine showed its evidence on FOX TV when the representative of health departments and the FDA....pasteurized egg industry and pasteurized dead everything makes you look like that. His brain did not even function well.
Mark.
Mark
Normally I would say TOO MUCH INFORMATION... But in this circumstance, its perfect.
I wrote the address above to the employees of DATCP who are widely known to read this blog. I'm guessing that they don't understand the true nature of what they work for, or the precarious financial storm we are about to enter. Any government employee who participates in these raids needs to understand the full nature of what they're doing and reconcile it with their conscious. I ask you again, who owns the private government if not you and me? If I tried to tell the DATCP employees that the government is "owned" by a private, offshore banking cartel controlled by the Crown and the Rothschild family, how many would continue reading past that point? Invoking the Constitution is what most people understand.
By what you've said I gather that you think we need to have shift in our wider perceptions of health and nutrition, verses some sort of political revolution. Well, I agree that a shift in perception needs to take place, but there is room in this battle for all of us. Do you think Mark is a 'better' person than I because he's more vocal about food rights (narrow perspective), where I'm more politically motivated (wide perspective)? It sure seems so, with your unnecessary criticism of me and your verbal high-fiving of him. You had your chance to address DATCP, this was mine. Was it really necessary to criticize my methods?
While you are striving to shift the perceptions of the public at large toward better foods, my address was intended to shift the perceptions of the DATCP employees toward questioning their intentions and methodologies. If they laid down their arms, metaphorically speaking, the raids would stop overnight.
We're all supposed to be on the same team, right? Well, it gets hard when all my efforts seem to be in vain. I can't open my mouth on this blog without being criticized. Why should I support you and your efforts, when it's not reciprocated?
CP, Lykke, et. al. ("the foes") are not the only ones who are much quieter on this blog. In the 3 years I've been reading it, many names are no longer here. Perhaps because not only the dissenting voices are not welcome, but the freedom fighters whose ideas are 'different' or 'controversial' aren't, either.
Here's Bill's address to DATCP.
http://hartkeisonline.com/2010/08/19/young-cheesemaker-says-goodbye-to-wisconsin/
Thank you for leading. Thank you for fighting. You are moving us forward in leaps and bounds!
The contrast between Mark and that poor food safety spokesman was quite striking - not just physically, but ideologically. The interviewer asked the perfect questions, and both interviewees did a fabulous job of articulating their positions. I don' t think I've ever seen the issues laid out so succinctly; allowing viewers the opportunity to compare the two and choose what they believe is best. 5 stars!
I'll bet Mark will see more interview requests in the near future....
-Blair
p.s. Listened to the USDA/DoJ "workshop" on the Gipsa rules for the beef industry last Friday. One producer quotable, noting the 'external influences' on the beef market: "We should not be circling the wagons and shooting inward!"
'The general misconception is that any statute passed by legislators bearing the appearance of law constitutes the law of the land. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land, and any statue, to be valid, must be in agreement. It is impossible for both the Constitution and a law violating it to be valid; one must prevail. This is succinctly stated as follows:
'The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it.
'An unconstitutional law, in legal contemplation, is as inoperative as if it had never been passed. Such a statute leaves the question that it purports to settle just as it would be had the statute not been enacted.”
'Since an unconstitutional law is void, the general principals follow that it imposes no duties, confers no rights, creates no office, bestows no power or authority on anyone, affords no protection, and justifies no acts performed under it..
'A void act cannot be legally consistent with a valid one.
'An unconstitutional law cannot operate to supersede any existing valid law.
'Indeed, insofar as a statute runs counter to the fundamental law of the land, it is superseded thereby.
'No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.'” Sixteenth American Jurisprudence, Second Edition, Section 177. (late 2nd Ed. Section 256)
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/unconstitutional-laws-and-the-courts/
If you saw me "shifting my eyes to the right" a couple of times during my interview on FOX it was because I was sitting 24 inches from the interviewer ( sitting to my right ) but yet I was asked to speak towards the camera which was in a completely different direction....I was constantly naturally wanting to respond to her in a face to face manner.... this was my rookie status showing through. This was entirely uncomfortable, weird and very distracting.
Just want you all to know that I am not a.... "shifty eyed kind of guy".
Blair, could not agree with you more. We must not make... "...much better... the enemy of perfect". We also must not fool ourselves as to the severity of this conflict. It is a war....nothing less.
In this war, political enemies will sit down together and make peace only after they know they can now longer suffer the pain and attrition of continued battle. Dirty tricks, lies, corruption...police raids. These are not nice or caring things. These are acts of war and intended to deny good people choices in food and health and force these good people to conform to eating and ingesting toxins. The result of which is early or even acute death.
If you think this is crazy speak....look at the data from the CDC on immune depression related death...MRSA, FDA approved medications, and Cancers, asthma, Crohns... tens of thousands of people per year dying. Thats just a start!!
The problem is that mainstream has not connected the CDC deaths with modern medicine and the lack of prevention through nutrition.
Those of us that "get it" have connected these dots. We have seen the results of improved or excellent health as a result of eating whole foods and raw milk. This War....has casualties but they are laying on the CAFO pasteurized milk, CAFO egg side ( soon to be pasteurized egg ).
The greatest indicator showing the corruption of it all is the hard fact that the FDA and the regulatory establishment refuses to sit down and look at the data or the science....to look at the science and numbers would be to admit the failures of technologies that have destroyed the power of health and real healing through unprocessed foods. We all saw what happened in Michigan...the establishment had to agree with Dr. Beals. But still no raw milk in Michigan. In CA ten years in a row and no pathogens yet found in fluid raw milk that is sold in stores. This is all a very inconvenient truth for the dead food system.
IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!
FOOD, INC!!
Mark
I agree with about taking the broad view. I also agree with you that our government and political system are horribly corrupt, and act only in the interests of the rich and powerful.
What I am trying to explain is that this is inherint to modern civilization as we understand it. If we are to really take the broad view, we ought to look beyond our current milieu, and understand the long and sometimes colorful history of class conflict, agrarian destruction, economic and military imperialism, etc...
The root causes of this type of civilization in which we live is a very complex subject, which has been debated by radical philosophers for time immemorial. Much of it, I believe, can be traced to the economics and enviroment. Not all human civilizations have been imperialist and authoritarian like ours, nor does ours need to be. Thus why I advocate for permaculture.
Also, please keep in mind that the Supreme Court sometimes makes very bad decisions which run against the constitution. For example, in 1918, they sent numerous anti-war radicals to jail for calling on Americans to resist the draft, including most famously socialist party presidential candidate Eugene Debs.
The Rockefellers drink raw milk. So does the royal family in the UK, for that matter.