Why I’m Still An Activist – FREE SPEECH

Last week I freaked out. The bad part was that I did it in public.  On my Facebook page I sent a message to all of my then 50-something friends.  It was half rant, tirade, fingerpointing and pity party.  Then I deactivated my account and was silent.  I destroyed my former website here at WordPress, “Good Food 4 All.’  The e-mail list I had for GF4A also was shut down. 

I got mad, I got hurt and part of me was afraid. 

I had blogged about the pending approval of what is being called “Agent Orange” corn.  I guess that the key words I used over time accumulated and drew the attention of the manufacturer of this product.  They set their spybots on me at my site.  I backtracked through the links to those who had accessed my site and found out a lot about corporate America.

Under the guise of marketing and PR many of the world’s best known product manufacturers routinely spy on us.  The software from these PR firms allows these companies to view what is being said about them, good, bad or indifferent.  It sounds innocent enough but in the true essence of corporate espionage, it isn’t.

They track everything:  blogs, Facebook, Twitter and all social media.  This is legal.  The intent, they profess, is to gather marketing information and how to best put a spin on their PR to increase sales. 

There was a darker side to this.  Words used on these PR sites to attract new customers like, “track activists,” or “engage activists,” bothered me because of many things that are happening on small farms, at buying clubs, CSAs and to those who are for our food freedoms. There were other indications of what could possibly be covert actions against naysayers of their products.  I’d heard of visits by chemical corporations to people who’d shown the movie, “Food, Inc,” “Fresh, the Movie,” and  “Farmageddon,” along with threats and intimidation.

This is what happens when we use our free speech: companies are allowed to do this to the citizens of the United States,

Raw milk is  under attack with a vengeance by the FDA. Spies are being planted in buying clubs by state and federal officials.    Several activists, both here and in Canada, have been arrested, tried and convicted for sales of raw milk – with one thing lacking…. NOBODY HAS GOTTEN ILL from their milk. In court testimony the informants have been identified and given their account of how they were recruited – or in some cases, commanded to do this by their superiors – and their subsequent infiltration of the subject farm.

 At the November 1, 2011 protest at the FDA, which I attended, Homeland Security’s presence was unmistakable.  HOMELAND SECURITY…. to monitor a peaceful  raw milk  demonstration?  Yes, we were outside the FDA in Silver Spring, Maryland.  There was absolutely no threat to the building or occupants of the FDA itself.  In fact, we even invited John Sheehan, the director, who, of course, didn’t show.

Something just won’t let me quit advocating for food freedom -and now for freedom of speech.  I may do it in a different way, subtly, though, as to delay the scrutiny of the spybots from big chemical.  I’ve been doing this far too long to quit now.  Since 2004, after reading Eric Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” and Morton Spurlock’s, “Supersize Me” I became enraged at the way the food industry controls everything we eat.  I’ve been on the radio, both here and in Canada, I’ve blogged and tried to spread the word that our food isn’t what the general public thinks it is.  I’ve begged and badgered people to STAND UP FOR THEIR RIGHTS.  Sometimes I wonder IF anybody is listening!

So, if the spybots do come and snitch to big ag, big chemical and big food, well, I hope they enjoy what they’re reading. It is my FREEDOM of SPEECH that I am exercising here in the United States of America.  It is My FREEDOM OF SPEECH to disagree with the chemical giants and the food industry and our own government,  who are putting  greed before the health of this planet and humanity.

That’s why I can’t quit!

Freedom of Speech: Why Speaking Out Counts!

There are more of ‘us’ than of ‘them,’ and we have to remember that. The latest 2010 census counted over 300 million people here in America which means that ‘we’ outnumber ‘them’ at some ridiculous number.

Not counting my fellow activists in food, farming, environment etcetera, I’ve become convinced that the average American is totally brain-dead where their freedoms are concerned. The modern term, ‘sheeple’ is fairly apt because the majority of citizens of this country seem to be more focused on themselves rather than on what’s affecting their lives.

Now don’t get me wrong (or do — I don’t give a rat’s ass!) but as all of us know, the economy is in the tank, having been put there by ineffective government and corporate greed and its political influence. True, we’re all feeling this right now and thankfully, we’re angry.

But are we angry enough?

Recently on the air on Orion Talk Radio, my friend, Ziggy and I discussed Dow’s petition for approval of a new breed of genetically modified corn (GMO) which can withstand applications of 2-4-D, a component in the defoliant, Agent Orange. ( Listen to Parts 1 and  Part 2) 

That evening Ziggy, on her own, created a Facebook ‘event’  to encourage her friends on FB to speak up against 2-4-D corn approval. Listing me as a host – we both invited our ‘friends,’ who numbered about 200. 

6 responded. 

I logged in and changed the description to say that it isn’t a ‘live’ event that people had to physically attend, but one that ‘attendees’ only had to go to 2 links which were provided, log in and submit their comments directly to the USDA and APHIS (the agency of Animal, Plant Health and Inspection) on a government site.  The other link was to a petition by Organic Consumers which would be sent directly to President Obama, USDA director Tom Vilsack and the head of APHIS, Gregory Parham.

This morning (1/22)  there were 20.

HOW DIFFICULT IS THIS?  Click one link, use your constitutional rights of FREE SPEECH and comment.  Then click another link, voice your objection on the petition and that’s it?  It takes all of 5 minutes!

If so-called ‘activists,’ people who list themselves as healthy living advocates, who can travel across the country to go to raw milk rallies or health conventions, or other concerned citizens about the future of farms and  the environment, can’t manage to do this: WHAT THE HELL AM I FIGHTING FOR? 

These folks are not your average people who are uneducated about the detrimental effects of modern food! They profess clean diets of unprocessed food, drink fermented concoctions of kombucha, support local farmers (or are small farmers themselves) are supposedly totally committed to the health of their children and the Earth, advocates for raw milk and unpasteurized milk products, have organic lifestyles,  write articles and teach classes on natural and holistic living:  the list goes on and on. I assume that because they have chosen the lifestyles that they have, they must be aware of the dangers of chemical living. I assume they care. 

Feedback on this page is nill.  WHY?  This is something that will affect our entire country.  Farmers who now use Monsanto’s Round-Up GMO corn and douse their fields with glyphosate, may choose to go with the 2-4-D version.  This will cause a hellish concoction of chemicals to be released into the groundwater contaminated by Round-Up, Atrazine and other chemicals.  This ‘chemical war’ between Dow and Monsanto can only lead to more illness and deaths from long-term exposure.

Hopefully, though, the numbers on the FB page are low because these ‘friends’ have acted on their own and voiced their opinions on a direct link instead of committing on FB.  Perhaps, on purpose, they have not shown up for fear of incriminating themselves in the secret annals of Facebook — which we know are monitored by huge corporations under the thinly veiled guise of  PR and marketing.  However, IF they ARE of an activist nature, why wouldn’t they want to stand up against this? 

With 300+ million people  against  how many in government and corporations — we CAN stop this.  Look at recent events:  Verizon wanted to change a $2 fee for online payments.  In twenty-four hours, the citizens of this country brought that to a stop. Last week it appeared that the SOPA and PIPA legislation would become law.  Public outrage in just a few days (if that) had lawmakers tripping over themselves backing away that the proposed law has been dropped.

This is what we can do.  This is why FREEDOM OF SPEECH is important and WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO SPEAK UP!

Speak out now at:

https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/12/27/2011-33009/dow-agroscience-llc-availability-of-petition-plant-pest-risk-assessment-and-environmental-assessment

http://www.panna.org/issues/related-actions/tell-usda-not-approve-24-d-resistant-corn

 

Food Truth and Freedom

FOOD TRUTH and FREEDOM is the outgrowth of my old blog which was on WordPress until last week.  That blog was shut down (by me) because I was being spied on by chemical companies in the name of “marketing and PR.” 

They monitor all social media:  Facebook, Twitter, blogs and anything they can get their hands on.  It is entirely legal for them to do so.

Our rights are being taken away every day by corporate America.  Two years ago the Supreme Court wiped out a century’s worth of laws which forbade corporate influence in government.  “Citizens United”  gave personhood status to corporations in effect saying the have the same Constitutional rights as humans.  It declared them ‘people,’ and ‘money’ to be an expression of Free Speech. This gave corporate America the edge in the political arena allowing it to freely spend millions for the election of our lawmakers.  In truth, this made corporations part of our government.  This is wrong.

Watch Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont explain about Citizen’s United:

 

Where does food come into this?  Everyday throughout the millions of retail establishments that sell food, (grocery stores to restaurants) the government and large corporations are telling us what we can and cannot eat.

Despite the growing public outcry, in many places in the United States it is illegal: 

• For a farmer to sell unpasteurized milk from his cows or goats.
• To make or sell unpasteurized milk products unless you have a license to operate an inspected dairy
• To slaughter your own meat from your own animals on your own property, even though this is done in conditions which are cleaner than state regulations require.
• Transport unpasteurized (raw) milk across state lines.

The government-run agencies:  FDA, USDA, EPA  and others tell food companies what they are allowed to use in and on their food.  Sounds good and protective?  Not so fast. It is a commonly known fact that these agencies are rife with inadequacy, inefficiency, outside influence from corporate interests, incomplete and biased test data  and, of course, under-manning.  The idea is good and may have been at one time – long ago. Now it’s stuck in overzealous bureaucratic red tape and political influence.