Last night I watched “Rabbit Proof Fence”, a movie about the systematic kidnapping by the Australian government of aboriginal children that occurred for an entire century – between 1869 and 1970. I remarked to my wife that it seemed WWII marked a change in western history, how could such an arrogant policy have continued through to 1970. My wife reminded me of the recent abduction of 460 children by the State of Texas for reasons that are not much different from the reasons that led to the “Stolen Generations” in Australia.
I know little of the details of what happened leading to CPS taking children from the FLDS compound. I don't condone behavior that is harmful to children. However, one of the concerns of CPS (Child Protective Services) was that there were nine girls aged 16-17 who were listed as “wives” in the groups records. According to Texas law, the minimum legal age for marriage is 14, with parental consent. While you and I might think 14 is crazy, that's what the law says. If the speed limit is 70mph, should you get a ticket for driving 70mph? If we consider marriage before 18 (or whatever age we choose) to be harmful to children, we should change the law, not abduct those who are complying with it.
Texas is a great state, much more respectful of personal freedom than many states are. An appeals court has ruled at least some of the children returned. CPS undoubtably think that they are doing the right thing. But it is the very meaning of freedom that people can make stupid decisions and suffer the consequences. Unless there is clear, sever and imminent danger, neither CPS nor any other agency or organization has any moral authority to take a child from its parent.
Raid on FLDS compound in Texas:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/052308dntexfldsappeal.1b22ef5f.html
Marriage Age Requirements:
http://law.jrank.org/pages/11840/Marriage-Age-Requirements.html
Stolen Generations in Australia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Generation
24 May 2008
18 May 2008
More about Farmers
I want to tell you a little about a program that is being pushed by the Federal Government through the USDA. The program is called the National Animal Identification Program, or NAIS. A real quick summary of the program is this - every property on which roams one or more of any common farm animal should be registered with the government. Every animal on every registered premises will be registered with the government. Every time an animal is born, dies, enters or leaves a registered premises, it will be reported to the government.
This may not seem like a big deal to those who don't run a farm. But it doesn't take long to realize that this is indeed a big problem for a small farmer. Suddenly, a farmer has to worry not only about maintaining financial records of every animal he buys and sells (in order to properly report his income and expenses to the IRS), he also has to track the movements of the individual animals so NAIS knows what animals are on or off his property.
From a practical perspective, this is a major problem. Remember, a small farmer works outside with his animals, not in an office. But NAIS says he's got to add a load of new paperwork to his job to track the movement of his animals. As an example, let's say I have 100 head of cattle, and I need to reduce the herd to 75. I go out to my pastures and move the animals to sorting pens. I select 25 of them to go to the auction. However, these are living creatures that weigh 1000 lbs. Sorting them is not a science. I end up culling a few that I intended to keep and keeping a few I intended to cull. So now I bring them to the auction, sell them, and keep careful track of my receipts so I can tell the IRS how much money I made.
But wait - before I can take them off my property, I have to write down the "tracking code" of the animals that I sell, so I can tell NAIS that I've moved them off my premises. Ah, but I don't have any tracking codes, I just let the animals graze, and sell them when I am ready. No longer, my friend - I must implement a tracking code system, because I have to report the animals to the government. And since I have to be able to track the animals individually, I have to have equipment in place to mark the animals individually. So I have to buy and/or build some equipment for managing and marking (brand/tag/RFID) the animals so I can tell the government what I'm doing. Every time an animal is born, dies, enters or leaves my propery, I am supposed to tell the goverment within 24 hours.
Imagine it this way:
You are a computer programmer. Here's a new rule: Due to the danger of computer viruses, if you write software, you have to register any property on which you write programs with Homeland Security. So if you have a home office, and a vacation home in which you occasionally work, and your parents home and your in-laws home - they all need to be registered with DHS as "places where software is written". You don't have to register your computers, as long as they never connect to the internet. Any computer that connects to the internet must be registered. And you don't have to register any code that you write, unless it leaves your computer. If it goes from your computer to another computer, you have to report it. It doesn't matter if it is going from your computer to your friends computer, or your computer to a private customer's computer. The fact is, it is "commingling" with other computer and software, and we need to be able to track it. And imagine that this reporting requires resources that you don't have at your disposal. You work at your computer all day, but at the end of the day you have to go out to a field, find a horse, brand it with a message to the government that tells it about your activities for the day, and pay someone to haul it to the DHS information center. (Remember, farmers and ranchers work in fields and paddocks, not at desks).
But more important than the practical difficulty of the program is the philosophical problem. It flies in the face of any concept of freedom for a government to demand that free citizens report that level of detail of the goings on of their business. It is a practical problem indeed, but it is far worse that it is an infringement on the freedom of Americans.
Now here's the kicker - this is your food supply. This is just one of the many ways in which the government is forcing producers to comply with difficult, expensive, and ineffective regulations that dramatically impact what food you can buy. It is nearly impossible for small farmers who provide food for themselves, friends, and local markets to comply with this program. But it turns out that the whole program fits in just fine with the factory farming operations. It doesn't seem like too big an inference to suppose that the NAIS may have been designed for the purpose of helping agribusiness control the food supply, and ensuring that the food supply cannot be controlled by the consumers or small producers.
Oh, and another kicker - remember who your history books always tell you fought the revolution? Farmers. Can you imagine farmers fighting against "taxation without representation" only to be told that they would have to report to the government whenever they bought or sold an animal?
And one last kicker - I'd like you to note how a program like NAIS gets implemented. It is implemented through the USDA. The USDA was created by congress and has significant power to control our food supply without any laws being passed. In other words, your congress people can claim to have clean hands, while an agency that they authorize, fund, oversee, and endorse robs you of your freedom.
Here are some links to read up some more about this fascist program implemented by the government of "the freeest country in the world". Note that to be fair, I am including a link to the USDA site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Animal_Identification_System
http://nonais.org/
http://www.newswithviews.com/Hannes/doreen5.htm
http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/
Related stories:
http://www.alternet.org/story/82632/
This may not seem like a big deal to those who don't run a farm. But it doesn't take long to realize that this is indeed a big problem for a small farmer. Suddenly, a farmer has to worry not only about maintaining financial records of every animal he buys and sells (in order to properly report his income and expenses to the IRS), he also has to track the movements of the individual animals so NAIS knows what animals are on or off his property.
From a practical perspective, this is a major problem. Remember, a small farmer works outside with his animals, not in an office. But NAIS says he's got to add a load of new paperwork to his job to track the movement of his animals. As an example, let's say I have 100 head of cattle, and I need to reduce the herd to 75. I go out to my pastures and move the animals to sorting pens. I select 25 of them to go to the auction. However, these are living creatures that weigh 1000 lbs. Sorting them is not a science. I end up culling a few that I intended to keep and keeping a few I intended to cull. So now I bring them to the auction, sell them, and keep careful track of my receipts so I can tell the IRS how much money I made.
But wait - before I can take them off my property, I have to write down the "tracking code" of the animals that I sell, so I can tell NAIS that I've moved them off my premises. Ah, but I don't have any tracking codes, I just let the animals graze, and sell them when I am ready. No longer, my friend - I must implement a tracking code system, because I have to report the animals to the government. And since I have to be able to track the animals individually, I have to have equipment in place to mark the animals individually. So I have to buy and/or build some equipment for managing and marking (brand/tag/RFID) the animals so I can tell the government what I'm doing. Every time an animal is born, dies, enters or leaves my propery, I am supposed to tell the goverment within 24 hours.
Imagine it this way:
You are a computer programmer. Here's a new rule: Due to the danger of computer viruses, if you write software, you have to register any property on which you write programs with Homeland Security. So if you have a home office, and a vacation home in which you occasionally work, and your parents home and your in-laws home - they all need to be registered with DHS as "places where software is written". You don't have to register your computers, as long as they never connect to the internet. Any computer that connects to the internet must be registered. And you don't have to register any code that you write, unless it leaves your computer. If it goes from your computer to another computer, you have to report it. It doesn't matter if it is going from your computer to your friends computer, or your computer to a private customer's computer. The fact is, it is "commingling" with other computer and software, and we need to be able to track it. And imagine that this reporting requires resources that you don't have at your disposal. You work at your computer all day, but at the end of the day you have to go out to a field, find a horse, brand it with a message to the government that tells it about your activities for the day, and pay someone to haul it to the DHS information center. (Remember, farmers and ranchers work in fields and paddocks, not at desks).
But more important than the practical difficulty of the program is the philosophical problem. It flies in the face of any concept of freedom for a government to demand that free citizens report that level of detail of the goings on of their business. It is a practical problem indeed, but it is far worse that it is an infringement on the freedom of Americans.
Now here's the kicker - this is your food supply. This is just one of the many ways in which the government is forcing producers to comply with difficult, expensive, and ineffective regulations that dramatically impact what food you can buy. It is nearly impossible for small farmers who provide food for themselves, friends, and local markets to comply with this program. But it turns out that the whole program fits in just fine with the factory farming operations. It doesn't seem like too big an inference to suppose that the NAIS may have been designed for the purpose of helping agribusiness control the food supply, and ensuring that the food supply cannot be controlled by the consumers or small producers.
Oh, and another kicker - remember who your history books always tell you fought the revolution? Farmers. Can you imagine farmers fighting against "taxation without representation" only to be told that they would have to report to the government whenever they bought or sold an animal?
And one last kicker - I'd like you to note how a program like NAIS gets implemented. It is implemented through the USDA. The USDA was created by congress and has significant power to control our food supply without any laws being passed. In other words, your congress people can claim to have clean hands, while an agency that they authorize, fund, oversee, and endorse robs you of your freedom.
Here are some links to read up some more about this fascist program implemented by the government of "the freeest country in the world". Note that to be fair, I am including a link to the USDA site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Animal_Identification_System
http://nonais.org/
http://www.newswithviews.com/Hannes/doreen5.htm
http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/
Related stories:
http://www.alternet.org/story/82632/
16 May 2008
Invitation To The Blues but I Will Rise Up
On the liberal side of America, we worry that freedom is in danger because the poor can't afford nice cars.
On the conservative side of America, we worry that freedom is in danger because the rich pay too much in taxes.
And I say freedom is in danger because a farmer can't sell milk to willing customers without permission from the government. And we the people don't do anything about it.
This blog is the beginning of my effort to renew the cry for freedom in America. I hope that I am able to find a more powerful and effective way to do so, but perhaps this little blog will make make some impact for now.
Here are some sites where you can read about the sorry plight of a free American being arrested for exercising his right to engage in open commerce with other free Americans. If you aren't outraged, as the saying goes, you aren't paying attention.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11896.cfm
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen04262008.html
And related:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1598525,00.html
Title of this post is taken from titles "Invitation to the Blues" by Tom Waits and "I Will Rise Up" by Lyle Lovett (two great songs by two great artists). I hope that if you at first get the blues, you eventually will rise up and do something about it.
On the conservative side of America, we worry that freedom is in danger because the rich pay too much in taxes.
And I say freedom is in danger because a farmer can't sell milk to willing customers without permission from the government. And we the people don't do anything about it.
This blog is the beginning of my effort to renew the cry for freedom in America. I hope that I am able to find a more powerful and effective way to do so, but perhaps this little blog will make make some impact for now.
Here are some sites where you can read about the sorry plight of a free American being arrested for exercising his right to engage in open commerce with other free Americans. If you aren't outraged, as the saying goes, you aren't paying attention.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_11896.cfm
http://www.counterpunch.org/cohen04262008.html
And related:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1598525,00.html
Title of this post is taken from titles "Invitation to the Blues" by Tom Waits and "I Will Rise Up" by Lyle Lovett (two great songs by two great artists). I hope that if you at first get the blues, you eventually will rise up and do something about it.
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