If you’ve been raising cattle for any length of time, you know how the Check Off issue is loaded with corruption and seeming misappropriation of funds. Everyone gets to pay the Check Off and very few benefit from the additional collection of funds. Well Missouri wants to add an increased check off tax for just Missouri. Please read the following from Missouri Rural Crisis Center and then download this pdf form and register so your voice is counted in the discussion.
STOP the New Missouri Beef Checkoff Tax
In order to Vote NO on this corporate money grab—
Cattle Producers Must Register before March 4th
Thank you for signing the petition opposing a new state beef checkoff tax. Now is the time to register with the Missouri Department of Agriculture to be eligible to vote—see registration forms enclosed.
The Missouri Department of Agriculture is holding a referendum to add a new beef checkoff tax. If passed, all cattle sold in Missouri will be assessed an additional $1 a head checkoff with the proceeds going to the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC). And, the only way to stop it is for Missouri cattle producers to register to vote before March 4th (registration forms are enclosed). If you have registered by March 4th, the Missouri Department of Agriculture will send you a ballot on April 4th.
We are in a cattle market crisis right now with feeder calves having lost up to 45% of their value between September and December (according to the Livestock Marketing Association) with no foreseeable end in sight. What is the response by the MBIC? They want us to give them $2 million more every year. They want a 200% raise? We should say no to this money grab.
Please fill out the enclosed registration form and reach out to other producers in your area that oppose the checkoff. Note: you will be asked to provide three years of cattle sales on this form—We must not let this rule deter us from registering and voting to stop this checkoff.
According to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, anyone who has a shared interest in your cattle sales—including your spouse, son, daughter or business partner—can register to vote in this referendum. Each person can fill out separate registration forms and list the number of cattle sales that represent each person’s share in the business. For example, a husband and wife who marketed 50 head of cattle could each register and report 25 head of cattle marketed.
Here are ways you can register:
We’ve included registration forms—fill them out and send them to the Missouri Department of Agriculture c/o Missouri Beef Referendum, P.O. Box 630, Jefferson City, MO 65102; or
Go to agriculture.mo.gov and register online or print a form; or
Call the Missouri Department of Ag at (573) 751-5633 and ask to have a registration form mailed to you; or
Pick up a registration form at your county FSA office.
If you need additional registration forms or have any questions:
Call the Missouri Rural Crisis Center at (573) 449-1336.
We can email, mail or fax you a registration form(s).
All Registration Forms Must Be Postmarked by March 4th.
Paid for by the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, Roger Allison, Executive Director, 1108 Rangeline Street, Columbia, MO 65201
Here are some key facts about why we oppose the state beef checkoff:
There are no rules that this checkoff slush fund will be used to promote Missouri beef. The Missouri Cattlemen’s Association successfully lobbied to remove the “promote Missouri beef” language from the bill. And, our federal checkoff dollars are already being used to promote foreign beef in U.S. markets.
There is no sunset clause on this beef checkoff. Once these programs are put into place, they are virtually impossible to get rid of. So, as cattle prices continue to decline, producers will still be paying the extra $2 million+ every year.
The vast majority of current federal checkoff dollars end up in the coffers of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) that consistently supports policies favoring corporate meatpackers (even foreign-owned meatpackers) at the expense of Missouri’s independent cattle producers. The NCBA successfully lobbied to end Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) and supports corporate packer ownership of livestock which drives down producer farm-gate prices.
The Missouri Beef Industry Council ignored its own hand-picked “Missouri Beef Checkoff Taskforce” that voted to request a $.50 per head state checkoff instead of $1 on August 26th. Instead, the MBIC requested $1/head anyway—another clear example of the no accountability attitude of the Missouri Beef Industry Council.
Supporters claim that there will be some way to get a refund after the fact, so they try to call this a “voluntary” program. In reality, cattle producers are forced to pay into this program by having the money taken out of their cattle sales checks before they even get them. If the fee is not paid when due, a penalty shall apply and the attorney general can sue cattle producers for the collection of checkoff fees and penalties. It doesn’t get any more mandatory than that. A complicated, time-consuming refund process does not eliminate this mandate to pay.
This new checkoff would mean the state government would be collecting another $2.2 million from Missouri beef producers every year and giving our money to the Missouri Beef Industry Council (MBIC), an unaccountable private entity that says it has “no obligation to disclose documents” about how our money is spent.
The only way to stop this new checkoff tax is for independent cattle producers to say “NO”, otherwise starting in July, we will be paying over $4 million every year in beef checkoff fees.
Please register to vote today—
your vote could make the difference.
Info on Proposed Additional Beef Check Off for Missouri
28 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
in Consolidation, Control, Dairy, food safety
Virginia Passes No Feds Involved Hemp Bill
27 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
This weekend, at the rescheduled OSLU Seminar, I will be talking about hemp and it’s positive benefits for mankind and nature. I’ll be speaking at 1PM on Sunday in West Plains, Missouri. (next post will be the updated schedule of the event)…The article below is about a positive step for state’s rights, but I don’t (honestly) think it goes far enough.However, riddle me this… My burning question is: “If the State governments have to do whatever the Feds tell them to do, then why do waste so much money on even having “State” governments?”
RICHMOND, Va. (Jan. 26, 2016) – Today, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to authorize the farming, and production of industrial hemp in the state for commercial purposes, setting the foundation for further action. The vote was 98-0.
Introduced by Del. Brenda Pogge (R-Norge), House Bill 699 (HB699) would amend current state law on hemp and create a framework so that hemp businesses/processors and hemp farmers can proceed with business plans.
As noted in the impact statement from the Department of Planning and Budget, the bill would also require the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services to “adopt regulations as necessary to license persons to grow and process industrial hemp for any purpose.” [emphasis added]
Under the Code of Virginia, § 3.2-4113 – as passed into law in 2015 – authorizes the state to issue licenses to farm and produce hemp for research purposes only under the Federal Farm Bill of 2014. If passed into law, HB699 would broaden the scope of hemp in the state to include the commercial “manufacture of industrial hemp products.” The bill would require creation of a licensure and renewal, including the establishment of any fees not to exceed $250, to allow a person to grow industrial hemp in the Commonwealth for any lawful purpose.
If passed, the new law would read, in part:
No person licensed pursuant to § 3.2-4115 or 3.2-4117 shall be prosecuted under § 18.2-247, 18.2-248, 18.2-248.01, 18.2-248.1, 18.2-250, or18.2-250.1 for the possession, cultivation or manufacture of industrial hemp plant material and seeds or industrial hemp products.
HB699 would take a first step toward establishing an independent hemp policy in Virginia and would create a foundation for future action.
Virginia Industrial Hemp Coalition founder and executive director Jason Amatucci called it a historic bill.
“This will make Virginia one of the leaders in being ‘Open for Hemp Business’ very soon. It will take 3-5 years to get the hemp industry really up and going and this is yet another great step.”
FEDERAL FARM BILL
Early in 2014, President Barack Obama signed a new farm bill into law, which included a provision allowing a handful of states to begin limited research programs growing hemp. The “hemp amendment”
…allows State Agriculture Departments, colleges and universities to grow hemp, defined as the non-drug oil-seed and fiber varieties of Cannabis, for academic or agricultural research purposes, but it applies only to states where industrial hemp farming is already legal under state law.
Current federal law authorizes the farming of hemp – by research institutions only, for research only. Farming for commercial purposes by individuals and businesses remains prohibited. HB699 sets a stage that could eventually lead development of a hemp industry despite federal prohibition.
OTHER STATES
Passage of HB699 would take a small set toward setting the stage to nullify the federal hemp ban in practice. Virginia would join with other states – including Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Connecticut, Maine, North Dakota and Vermont – that have simply ignored federal prohibition and legalized industrial hemp production within their state borders.
Farmers in SE Colorado started harvesting the plant in 2013, and farmers in Vermont began harvesting in 2014, effectively nullifying federal restrictions on such agricultural activities. On Feb. 2 of last year, the Oregon hemp industry officially opened for business and one week later, the first license went to a small non-profit group. As more people engage in hemp production and the market grows within these states, more people will become emboldened creating an exponential wave, ultimately nullifying the federal ban in effect.
HUGE MARKET FOR HEMP
According to a 2005 Congressional Research Service report, the U.S. is the only developed nation that hasn’t developed an industrial hemp crop for economic purposes.
Experts suggest that the U.S. market for hemp is around $600 million per year. They count as many as 25,000 uses for industrial hemp, including food, cosmetics, plastics and bio-fuel. The U.S. is currently the world’s #1 importer of hemp fiber for various products, with China and Canada acting as the top two exporters in the world.
During World War II, the United States military relied heavily on hemp products, which resulted in the famous campaign and government-produced film, “Hemp for Victory!”.
HB699 represents an essential first step toward hemp freedom in the state of Virginia.
WHAT’S NEXT
HB699 now moves to the Senate, where it will first be assigned to a committee for further consideration.
If you live in Virginia: For action steps to help get this bill passed click HERE.
For other states: Take action to push back against hemp prohibition HERE.
Massive Vaccine Cover Up- Important article
27 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
New evidence shows that members of a global vaccine committee may have been involved in a massive cover-up regarding the safety of the HPV vaccine. State-based action alerts!
Earlier this month, Cornell-trained clinical pathologist Sin Hang Lee, MD, sent an open letter to the director general of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, alleging that members of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) are guilty of gross misconduct and criminal malfeasance in their efforts to mislead the global public on the safety of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine.
The controversy revolves around Dr. Lee’s study finding that Gardasil (Merck’s HPV vaccine) contains HPV L1 gene DNA fragments. In a separate case study, Dr. Lee found HPV-16 L1 DNA fragments in post-mortem blood samples of a teenager who died six months after receiving three Gardasil injections. Dr. Lee hypothesizes that the HPV L1 gene DNA fragments bind to aluminum adjuvants in the vaccine and are carried through the blood stream by macrophages to the brain, causing the adverse effects many experience after receiving HPV shots. Based on this evidence, Dr. Lee called for further study of the HPV vaccines.
One would think the scientific community would take heed—especially scientists on the GACVS, who are responsible for advising the world on vaccine safety. Aluminum in vaccines is a serious issue that we’ve addressed at length in previous coverage. There are studies that have linked aluminum to all kinds of negative health effects ranging from autism to Alzheimer’s disease. Other researchers have noted that, despite eighty years of use, the safety of aluminum adjuvants rests largely on assumptions rather than experimental evidence.
Monsanto Being Sued Again
27 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
The following article is rather lengthy, but I think it’s important for people to get a better historical concept of Monsanto and the effects on humanity of their chemical contributions: (Linked in the title below)
Seattle seeks millions from Monsanto to clean up PCBs from Duwamish
The city of Seattle is suing to make Monsanto pay for cleanup of toxic PCBs from the city’s drainage system and the Duwamish River.
Monsanto was the sole producer of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) for commercial use in the U.S. from 1935 to 1977, and continued to profit from their sale for years even as its officials knew the chemicals were polluting the environment, causing harm to people and wildlife, said Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes.
“When the profit motive overtakes concern for the environment, this is the kind of disaster that happens,” Holmes said Tuesday. “I’m proud to hold Monsanto accountable.”
Seattle is the sixth major city in the West to seek cleanup damages from the company, joining San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, San Diego and Spokane, which Holmes said gave him the idea to file the federal lawsuit.
The amount of damages requested isn’t specified and would be determined in the course of the lawsuit, said Laura Wishik, section director for environmental protection in the Seattle City Attorney’s Office….(rest here)
Another Flat Out Lie? Maybe?
27 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
Alright, folks. This is a weird one, and I’m sharing it because I think it’s something that needs to be examined and cussed and discussed by people in general. Hopefully in an intelligent and civilized fashion.
A few months back, a friend that I greatly respect, asked me to check out the “Flat Earth Theory”. Really just as a matter of curiosity. I attempted to download a video on it, but the computer froze and it didn’t work, so I promptly forgot about it. Then a few weeks back, another good friend brought this up again. I thought that in about 10 minutes I could disprove the whole thing so I began to dig into it.
To cut a long story short, I can’t debunk this. I still have some questions that aren’t yet answered- if this is true- but I found it to be extremely thought provoking and thought I would share the major brain melt with others. I’m really hung up on sunrise and sunset myself. I can’t prove or disprove the flat earth theory, and I was terribly sure that it would be an easy thing to dismiss…I was wrong. Flat wrong…Here’s a 2 hour video that brings the issue into pretty clear focus.
Feel free to discuss, but I am NOT going to allow rude, mean, or vicious comments to remain. Be civil, and treat others as you would want to be treated yourself.
For your consideration, here’s a really deep rabbit hole:
Mother Earth News Editor to Keynote Small Farm Conference in West Plains
18 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
Importance of Community, Self-Defense and Energy Self-Reliance Featured at Preparedness Seminars January 23, 24
18 Jan 2016 Leave a comment
OSLU Seminar
29 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
This meeting is a perfect example of exactly what people need to be doing all across the country. Mike Slack is doing yeoman’s work on helping the community and providing solutions to the very real threats that we are contendng with in this rather Babylonian system. If you are near, I will be speaking on Sunday on hemp and it’s incredible value for our well being in many different aspects:
Ozark Self Reliant Living University Winter Session!
Serallini Completely Vindicated
16 Dec 2015 1 Comment
Funny enough, whenever you read the comments on some newly approved GMO, the paid shills for biotech are ever present stating that studies prove that GMO’s are safe, and they slam Seralini’s paramount study and state it has been debunked…Well, now there is a court case that has vindicated the study. So keep this in your arsenal to through at the biotech shills. (Linked in the title, as always)
GMO Fraud Revealed
A French court has found that fraud and defamation were employed to discredit a study linking GMOs to cancer in rats.
Dr. Gilles-Éric Séralini, a French molecular biologist who studies the health effects of GMOs, recently won two court cases against those who had sought to ruin his reputation after he published a study that linked GMO corn to cancer in rats. Following heavy pressure from the GMO industry, the article was retracted. It was eventually republished, but in a less prestigious publication.
The first lawsuit found one of Séralini’s accusers guilty of fraud, having used the name of another scientist without that scientist’s permission or knowledge in order to discredit Séralini’s study. In the second, journalists at a French magazine who had accused Séralini of scientific fraud were found guilty of defamation.
Séralini, a professor at the University of Caen in France, had done a number of studies challenging the safety of genetically engineered foods. The journal Food and Chemical Toxicology first published—then, under intense pressure decided to retract—Séralini’s 2012 paper containing evidence that GMO corn and Roundup can cause cancer and premature death in rats. The retraction was covered extensively in the media, which labeled Séralini a fraud—yet when the study was republished in Environmental Sciences Europe, this validation made few headlines.
At the time of its retraction, the New York Times said the paper had been criticized as “flawed, sensationalistic, and possibly even fraudulent by many scientists, some of whom are allied with the biotechnology industry” [emphasis ours].
The few journalists not bought and paid for by the biotech industry reported that Séralini was blasted for the number and type of rats that he used for the study, even though studies by the biotech industry use the same type and approximate number of rats!
There are also some suspicious facts surrounding the journal’s decision to retract the study. For instance, six months after the study was published, Food and Chemical Toxicology announced that it was creating a new position, Associate Editor for Biotechnology, and filled the position with a former Monsanto employee. The retraction occurred a few months later. Coincidence?
As we noted previously, this seems to have become standard practice in the biotech industry: slander and discredit anyone who exposes the dangers of GMO technology, and at the same time purchase the support of other scientists and journalists who will make the case for GMOs without complaint. It is bad enough to corrupt politicians. Corrupting scientists and journalists has particularly pernicious consequences for our society.
Ft Worth Fining Dairy Outside it’s Jurisdiction $3,000…Enough, Already
14 Dec 2015 6 Comments
in Agenda 21, Consolidation, Conspiracy, Control, Dairy, farm loss, FDA, Milk Persecutions, No Food Rights, raw milk Tags: family dairy, food tyranny, Ft Worth, raw milk
There is so much wrong with the story below. However, it is important that people are aware of it, and even more important that you begin to work on things to provide yourself and your family and neighbors with real food.
When any bureaucrat believes that he can insinuate himself between anyone’s mouth and stomach, you have overreach of incredible proportions. This is the FDA Food Code in effect. This is the result of people allowing the government to control areas of their lives that the government has zero business involving itself in. The Food Safety Modernization Act is going to kill those who worked on “exempting” themselves from the regulations by staying small and local. You still have to apply for an exemption, which gives the tyrants the authority to control you.
The answer is that we must not ask permission. We must deal directly with each other and not allow these tyrants entry into the very thing that sustains us. Heck, if the FDA had things their way, we’d all be eating Soylent Green and other dead food and paying the big pharma, big chemical companies for more medications to address our symptoms that then cause more problems requiring more medications to address the symptoms….and voila! Captive supply for death merchants.
I guess you can tell this makes me rather angry. If it doesn’t make you angry, I submit that you are part of the problem.
Currently, after more than a decade of fighting against this exact type of tyranny, I am dedicating myself to doing many of the projects that I have put off trying to defend against the wholesale onslaught against real food by the global govicorp. I must do all I can to feed my family and provide for my neighbors. I encourage everyone else to do the same. Here is the article:
City of Fort Worth Levies $3,000 Fine to Raw Milk Dairy, Located Outside of City Limits
FORT WORTH TX – Eldon Hoolely, who runs a small, family operated dairy farm is being summoned to court on Monday after some of their raw milk product was found inside the city limits of Fort Worth. The City of Fort Worth is now claiming that Rosey Ridge Farms, which is located nearly 40 miles south of city limits has somehow committed $3,000 worth of city ordinance violations.
Elmer DePaula, a health superintendent for the city claims that Rosey Ridge Farms was operating an illegal food establishment within the city limits. When in actuality, a food cooperative was purchasing the raw milk and transporting the product back to Fort Worth to distribute to it’s members.
Hoolely is licensed to sell his raw dairy products out of Rosey Ridge Farm, and says he’s being targeted as if he was running an establishment in Fort Worth itself.
“I never delivered anything to Fort Worth, when it leaves the farm, it’s bought and paid for, and in the hands of the consumer,” he said. “We run a very clean, raw milk operation, and people are really wanting to get back to real food again.”
Once the raw milk leaves Hooley’s farm, he has no operational control as to where the product ends up.
From their website: “Rosey Ridge Farm is located 2 ½ miles off I-35W approximately 35 miles south of Fort Worth. We are a fully licensed and inspected Grade A Retail Raw Dairy with a Food Manufacturing Permit for other dairy products, including Raw Aged Cheese from our dairy. All Natural grazing is practiced for our cows and calves. We do not feed any GMO grain and unless we have a dry year with poor quality feed, do not feed any grain. The farm consists of a 35 cow dairy of Jersey and Jersey Brown Swiss cross cows that are well fed and cared for and milked twice a day. Pigs and chickens are fed whey from the cheese and leftover milk by-products. Our chickens are cage free and roam freely over fields after the cows and calves and lay very nutritious eggs. We do not use antibiotics, hormones, or steroids in our dairy. We farm around 250 acres for grazing and hay. Oats and wheat is planted in the fall for winter grazing while native and forage grasses are grazed in warm weather.
Please come by and see us! Enjoy the country life and be a part of wholesome community building at the farm. Bring your children and let them pet the animals and enjoy a horse ride. If you come in the late afternoon, you can get in on the milking. For groups, please have us schedule an event for you.”
So now their family is in jeopardy of losing $3,000 of their hard earned income to unjust fines placed upon them. The charges are that they distributed some “unfit” food, and are operating an illegal food establishment.
Recently the ordinance was updated and passed by the Fort Worth City Council to ensure raw milk was specifically mentioned, “… it is the distribution of raw milk and raw milk products which is prohibited, regardless of retail status.”
Attorney Bryce King and Gary Cox from the Farmer to Consumer Legal Defense Fund are representing the family against the city backed prosecutor Bill Durkin.
Real Milk Texas have expanded their popularity and are raising awareness about the health benefits and chemical free raw dairy products.
The growing movement of the people to make their own food choices is being stifled by the federal, local and state governments with their concerns about public health. Mr. Hooley told brettsanders.me that
“It’s not about acting against the government, it’s about the government overreaching and telling us what foods we can and cannot eat”. He shared this Thomas Jefferson quote with me “If the people let the 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 who live under tyranny”.
Hooley concluded with “Altering nature is not the answer, and that healthy unpasturized milk and farm fresh chemical free foods is the closest thing to nature for our health and well being, and the government needs to keep their hands off our food “.
He and his Family are asking for help by showing up at the courthouse on Monday morning in downtown Fort Worth to support his and other small farms around the country in bringing the ‘farm to table’ concept the forefront. Here is the link to the event.
Truth Farmer 
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