I was so consumed by anger I couldn’t begin to quantify it with words. I had to force myself to just copy and paste the story here, if I attempted to include any commentary it would’ve been pure expletives. Having returned to a slightly more rational frame of mind, I still continue to be haunted by its horrific images.

It helped a little to watch the next day as the story got tons of coverage by the media. Better yet was hearing about the first arrest. But that only brought up new anger about the lack of legal protection afforded to farm animals. The penalty for all of that cruelty inflicted? Only a second-degree misdemeanor in Ohio— a pathetic $750 fine and up to 90 days in jail. Nothing close to justice. Even more, we’re still waiting for Gary Conklin to be arrested. Clearly shown kicking a cow in the video, he has yet to be charged with anything.

The investigation is still in its beginning stages and there is plenty to be depressed and angry about.

Now is the perfect time to remember that 20 miles away from the Conklin Dairy Farm there’s a happy ending to one cruel chapter of the dairy industry. His name is Wesley.

No use to his owner since he’s male and therefore can’t produce milk, he was chained up, starving, and almost too weak to stand when he was rescued by Mindy Mallett, founder of Sunrise Sanctuary.

If you think cows are mindless animals with no personalities, you have to meet this one. Everyone who has will agree: Wesley is a puppy trapped in a cow’s body. Given free reign to roam anywhere on the farm, he often walks onto the back deck and peers into Mindy’s window, whining to come inside. In the winter he likes to fall asleep covered up with a blanket. Oh, and I can hardly leave out this tip— Wesley loves apple juice.

Once you meet him you’ll understand what all the hype is about. Wesley is quite the charmer. A perfect reminder of how incredibly intelligent and loving these animals can be.

Sunrise Sanctuary is home to over 80 other rescued animals, including chickens, ducks, turkeys, goats, llamas, cats, dogs, and more. Each have their own story, some more horrific than others, but all have the same happy and compassionate ending.

They’re having a fundraiser on Saturday, June 12th, it’s the perfect opportunity to come out and meet Wesley, along with all the other animals. If you need a break from the heart-wrenching Conklin Dairy story, a visit to Sunrise is sure to lift your spirits.

Wesley is a reminder that groups like Sunrise Sanctuary and Mercy for Animals deserve our energy, not pieces of garbage like Conklin and Gregg. If you’re angry about what happened, I strongly suggest:

1. Stop consuming ALL dairy. Conklin Dairy is not an exception, they are the rule. It does nothing to boycott whatever company may happen to distribute Conklin’s milk, the dairy industry is HUGE, there are countless more operating the same way. Even “humane” dairy farming is cruel. Like humans, cows only produce milk when they’re pregnant, so the cows are kept perpetually pregnant, the resulting baby calves taken away immediately and sold to the veal industry. If you’re opposed to eating veal, you should be opposed to the dairy industry that supplies it.
2. Support compassion. Whether it’s financially or as a volunteer, I highly encourage you to support Mercy for Animals and their important undercover investigations, as well as rescue organizations like Sunrise Sanctuary.
3. Sign the petition for Ohioans for Humane Farms, a citizen-backed ballot initiative to prevent some of the cruelest factory farming practices in Ohio. The measure will require the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board to adopt certain minimum standards that will prevent animal cruelty, improve health and food safety, support family farms and safeguard the environment throughout the state of Ohio.

Of course I’m as anxious as everyone else to see justice prevail in this story. While we wait, it helps to remember Wesley.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Gandhi

Un-fucking-believable. This happened 30 minutes from where I live.

Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation exposes dairy farm workers sadistically abusing cows and young calves.

Captured on hidden camera, the shocking scenes of abuse reveal a culture of cruelty at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio.

During a four-week investigation between April and May, MFA’s investigator documented farm workers:

• Violently punching young calves in the face, body slamming them to the ground, and pulling and throwing them by their ears
• Routinely using pitchforks to stab cows in the face, legs and stomach
• Kicking “downed” cows (those too injured to stand) in the face and neck – abuse carried out and encouraged by the farm’s owner
• Maliciously beating restrained cows in the face with crowbars – some attacks involving over 40 blows to the head
• Twisting cows’ tails until the bones snapped
• Punching cows’ udders
• Bragging about stabbing, dragging, shooting, breaking bones, and beating cows and calves to death

After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, stated:

“This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless.”

Immediately upon completion of the investigation, Mercy For Animals contacted the City Prosecutor’s Office of Marysville regarding the ongoing pattern of abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms. MFA is pushing for employees of the facility to be criminally prosecuted for violating Ohio’s animal cruelty laws.

The deplorable conditions uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms highlight the reality that animal agriculture is incapable of self-regulation and that meaningful federal and state laws must be implemented and strengthened to prevent egregious cruelty to farmed animals.

Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are sadistic in nature, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – runs rampant nationwide.

Compassionate consumers can end their direct financial support of farmed animal abuse by rejecting dairy, and other animal products, and adopting a vegan diet.

Some noteworthy news articles:

• NO on Issue 2 – Toledo Blade, 10/28/09
  

  “Regardless of how anyone feels about the treatment of farm animals, Issue 2 is poor public policy, and it should be defeated.

  The Ohio Constitution should never be used to promote the interests of specific individuals, businesses, or industries. The reasonable approach to balancing the needs of Ohio’s farming industry and the concerns of animal-rights groups would have been to follow Michigan’s example and work out a compromise in state law that would protect both farmers and farm animals.”

• Livestock care is key in Issue 2 debate – Columbus Dispatch, 10/25/09
  

  In case there’s any doubt about this being big business, consider Ohio’s 2008 agriculture numbers:

  • 4 million pigs were raised on 4,000 farms. Another 170,000 sows were used for breeding.
  • 27 million hens laid 7.1 billion eggs. There were 57.5 million chickens and 6 million turkeys raised for meat.
  • 1.2 million beef cattle came from 15,000 farms. Another 700,000 calves were marketed for veal.

• Controversial proposal is battle over who regulates agriculture industry – Dayton Daily News, 10/25/09
  

  While the Ohio Constitution authorizes a state board of education, boards typically aren’t prescribed in that document, said Charles Hallinan, a University of Dayton law professor and constitutional scholar.

  “It’s an oddity,” Hallinan said of Issue 2. “It is unusual enough that it would give me pause to include it in the constitution.”

• Issue 2 Spending – Columbus Dispatch, 10/23/09
  

  Backers of state Issue 2, the proposed constitutional amendment to create the Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board, gave more than $4 million to that cause.

  “Contributions to Issue 2 are about much more than just supporting a ballot measure,” said Jack Fisher, executive vice president of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation and treasurer of Ohioans for Livestock Care Political Action Committee.

  “They are really an investment in educating all Ohioans on farmers’ commitment to excellent animal care and to providing safe, affordable, locally grown food for our consumers.”

  Issue 2 supporters said about $3 million of the total came from Ohio family farmers and groups representing farm organizations.

  Records show about $1.2 million came via more than 100 donations from out-of-state organizations, ranging from the Delaware Farm Bureau to the Arizona Pork Council to the Texas Turkey Federation to the Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council. Eli Lily Co. of Indianapolis added $25,000.

  The drive to pass state Issue 2 was led by a dozen six-figure donations. The Ohio Farm Bureau chipped in about $535,000 overall, although the largest single contribution, $200,000, came from United Egg Producers in Alpharetta, Ga.

• Justice calls State Issue 2 misuse of constitution – Columbus Dispatch, 10/20/09
  

  O’Connor said the state constitution is a “much bigger document” that should not be amended to include policy decisions, such as livestock care, that are best left to lawmakers.

  O’Connor, who plans to run for chief justice next year, said backers of Issue 2 understand that once something is added to the constitution, it will take “an arm and a leg” to overturn it, the paper reported.

The most recent list of groups who officially oppose Issue 2 (I’m sure I’m missing some):

Finally, I’d like to draw attention to an analysis of contributions to the Ohioans for Livestock Care PAC conducted by Ohio ACT.

They’ve published the findings as a PDF, but for greater accessibility I’m posting the info here as well. The numbers clearly show what Issue 2 opponents have been saying all along, Issue 2 is NOT about protecting small farms, this is about protecting the abusive and immoral practices of FACTORY farms.

Ohio ACT Analysis of Contributions and In-Kind Donations to Ohioans for Livestock Care PAC

Large Contributors/Donors ($20,000 or More) Represent Two-Thirds of the Contributions to Ohioans for Livestock Care (Pro-Issue 2):
Fifty donors, all large institutions, that gave $20,000 or more to the Ohioans for Livestock Care PAC were 2 percent of the contributors but two-thirds (66 percent) of the financing. More than one thousand donors (1,046 contributors) donated less than $100, but these small donors made up only 1 percent of the PAC’s contributions.

Dozen Largest Contributions/In-Kind Donations Made Up More than One Third of Contributions:
The twelve largest contributors (all agribusiness interests) contributed at least $100,000 gave a total of $1.4 million, 35 percent of all funds contributed to Ohioans for Livestock Care. The statewide Ohio Farm Bureau Federation gave $505,186 (in four separate donations) that constituted 12 percent of the funding for the PAC. Three out-of- state interests contributed a total of $413,000, or 10 percent of all contributions to the PAC (United Egg Producers (Georgia), National Pork Producers Council (Iowa), and Pioneer Hi-Bred (Iowa-based seed and agrochemical firm).

Non-Individual Contributors Provided Nearly All (94 Percent) of the Financing:
About half the contributors (49 percent) were “non-individual” contributors, but they contributed $.3.8 million (94 percent) to the PAC. These non-individual donors were primarily agribusiness trade associations, livestock operations, agricultural service companies and farms.

Farm Bureau Chapters and Livestock Operations and Associations Among Largest Donors:
State and local Farm Bureau chapters made 451 contributions totaling $995,719 to the pro-Issue 2 PAC – 18 percent of the contributors and 25 percent of the financing. This includes 13 non-Ohio-based Farm Bureau chapters that gave $60,000. Hog trade associations and operations contributed $624,106 (15 percent); egg trade associations and operations contributed $477,298 (12 percent); poultry associations and operations contributed $271,695 (7 percent). Beef, dairy and other livestock interest contributed $257,944 (6 percent) combined.

Contributors from Outside Ohio Provided More than One Fourth Contributions:
More than one hundred (106) out of state contributors donated $1,196,080 to Ohioans for Livestock Care, only 4 percent of the contributors but 30 percent of the financing. Ten Iowa contributors gave $498,300 (12 percent), 3 Georgia contributors gave $211,000 (5 percent), 3 Minnesota contributors gave $115,000 (3 percent), 26 Indiana donors gave $97,075 (2 percent), 3 Kentucky contributors gave $58,000 (1 percent), 5 Missouri donors gave $56,000 (1 percent), and 3 North Carolina contributors gave $50,000 (1 percent).

Methodology: Ohio ACT examined the Coalition for Livestock Care PAC contributions and in kind donation data that was released October 22nd and coded the non-individual contributors that gave $5,000 or more based on agricultural sector. Trade associations and companies that provided a livestock-specific service (pork packing, poultry packaging or cage manufacturing, or hog business consulting software, for example) was coded with the appropriate livestock industry. Livestock services that were not livestock type specific (veterinary services, cattle genetics) were coded as agricultural services). Feed and seed elevators that provide a range of agricultural services but appear to be primarily elevators are coded as feed/grain/oilseed.

Of course, this is not an all-inclusive update, there is so much being said about this issue I can’t possibly cover it all. PLEASE do your research, and don’t believe the feel-good commercials the Farm Bureau is putting out, they’re anything but honest.

If you’re in Columbus, Cleveland, or Cincinnati: Ohio ACT really needs volunteers to help with phonebanking and passing out door hangers.

Spread the word: VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2!

(Can’t see the video? Click here.)

I’ve been meaning to write about Issue 2, a sneaky little campaign (backed by factory farms and Big Ag) that would create the “Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board.” Since this op-ed letter I just wrote to Outlook News pretty much summarizes where I stand, I’ll go ahead and copy it here.

For more information on this issue, please check out OhioACT.org (Ohioans Against Constitutional Takeover) and the Facebook group I’ve created: Ohioans Against Issue 2. On both sites you can download flyers, view recent news articles about the issue, and more.

To: hayes@outlookmedia.com, mdaniels@outlookmedia.com
Subject: Issue 2 endorsement

Dear Mr. Daniels,

I was highly disappointed to find an endorsement of Issue 2 in the latest issue of Outlook. Disappointed for many reasons.

The first reason is the obvious lack of research on the issue. Did you take your summary of the issue straight off the Farm Bureau’s website? Did you read ANY opposing arguments? Did you look at the list of groups who oppose it? This list includes the Capital Area Humane Society, Ohio League of Women Voters, Organic Consumers Association, Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Farmers Union, Food & Water Watch… the list goes on.

Do you know how quickly the ballot measure was pushed through the Ohio legislature, passing through the House and Senate in just 6 days? Talk about suspicious. Issue 2 came about as a knee-jerk reaction to the idea of dealing with the Humane Society’s potential focus on expanding animal welfare laws in the state of Ohio. Rather than leave the decision up to voters who may decide farm animals deserve better treatment (as was recently the case in Michigan and California), the Farm Bureau decided to take matters into their own hands and shrug off the democratic process completely, saying they will regulate themselves. The fox wants to guard the henhouse, literally.

Issue 2 would amend the Ohio Constitution, an action that should NEVER be taken lightly.  Creating a Livestock Care Standards Board takes away power from the voters, as all future animal-welfare decisions would be decided upon and handed down by this unelected 13-member group. Did Outlook investigate the would-be members of this board? To put it simply: they’re not looking out for animals or food safety, they’re pawns for Big Agribusiness. Not to mention the cost of creating this new board. Can Ohio really afford this right now? Expanding government always means expanding the budget.

Also worth mentioning is the effect it will have on Ohio’s small farmers, who would have even more regulation to deal with if Issue 2 passes. That does not mean safer food, historically this has resulted in increased costs for small farmers who end up going out of business, then factory farms and Big Ag gladly take over. Factory farms certainly do not provide safer food, and absolutely do not provide better care for animals.

This is not “Ohioans taking care of Ohioans” — this is Big Agribusiness taking care of themselves. I can’t believe Outlook News fell victim to the Farm Bureau’s campaign. You’ve done a disservice to your readers by taking the lazy road to arrive at your endorsement decision, and it will be Ohio’s small farms and animals that suffer.

It’s convenient that Outlook is now a monthly publication, since even if this letter made it to print, it would be too late for anyone to see. Nevertheless, I feel obligated to speak out against this ignorant endorsement.

We’ve been brought up to believe that milk HAS to be pasteurized or else you’ll get sick. But is that really true? A lot of evidence suggests no, I’d suggest you go Googling if you want to learn more. Obviously, as a vegan I personally don’t want to consume raw milk. I don’t think it’s natural to drink the milk of another animal — NO other species does this besides humans. And no other species drinks milk beyond infancy. But — as a libertarian, I support the political aspect of this fight.

From a political perspective, what business is it of the State to tell you what’s safe to eat and drink? Just last month we saw what Ohio does if you sell food they don’t approve of.

Why not let the State and their “experts” do the thinking and regulating for you? Keep in mind the people determining safe milk vs. unsafe milk are the same ones telling you that every day you should drink 8 glasses of fluoridated water, consume 2-3 servings of fattening, diseased, and tortured meat, use aspartame (rat poison) and saccharin (carcinogen) instead of sugar if you want to lose weight, accept genetically-modified corn as a modern marvel that will save the planet from starvation, consume 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables sprayed with pesticides, and keep using high-fructose corn syrup because it’s “fine in moderation” and better than natural alternatives like stevia or xylitol. Not a very good foundation for trust here.

To illustrate the utter (or should I say “udder”) ridiculousness of the State’s power over our food, I’d like to share a video that a friend of mine is entering into the Sammy’s Contest. Please watch and rate it so we have a better shot at winning.

Without further ado, I give you “Secret Agent Pam” (also my first theatrical debut):

(Can’t see the video? Click here.)

Good news: we were all able to testify against the bill today, and we gave them a response they weren’t expecting. There were 10 of us who spoke out against it, ZERO who spoke in support.

Members from Campaign for Liberty, Ohio Freedom Alliance, We Are Change Ohio, John Birch Society, Institute for Principled Policy, Constitution Party of Ohio, and the Libertarian Party of Ohio showed up in support, most of them testified.

After seeing how many of us came, Committee Chairman Blessing changed his mind and decided not to vote on it today. In fact, he acted like it was a mistake that the paper said “possible vote.” Teri (OFA, JBS, CPO) thinks it’ll probably be voted on at the next committee meeting (which will also probably not include further testimony) so we’ll need to keep watching. The Senate version (SJR 9) was introduced yesterday as well, but last I heard it hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee. Still another thing to keep an eye on.

The committee had some questions and a couple repeatedly voiced concerns, enough so that I definitely think we have a good shot at getting this defeated.

Anthony from We Are Change Ohio recorded all of our testimonies and hopes to have a video put together by Friday, I’ll post it here as soon as I get it.

Everybody’s testimonies were GREAT, here are four of them:

THANKS to everybody who came out today to testify, esp. those who drove quite a while to make it. I think we made a huge difference, much to their dismay — this isn’t turning out to be a walk in the park as they had hoped.

Please use the “ShareThis” button below to email this alert to your friends and family, as well as vote it up on Digg and Reddit!

On December 3rd, the Ohio House of Representatives introduced HJR 8, a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention, provided for by Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

This is one of only two legal methods for amending the Supreme Law of the Land. This nation is only a few states away from having application of the requisite 34 states needed to convene a Constitutional Convention.

It is worth noting that many states which have called for a Constitutional Convention in the past have since withdrawn their requests (Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and others) after realizing the danger of such an event.

If a Constitutional Convention is called, our Constitution and Bill of Rights would be up for grabs and open to any and all changes.

It is clear that this con-con call is being quickly pushed through the lame-duck legislature before most Ohio citizens learn about it. The legislation was referred to the House Judiciary Committee and they are voting this Wednesday to determine whether to send it to the house for a full vote — only a week after its introduction!

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED ASAP!

1. Get educated on the facts of a Constitutional Convention by watching Beware Article V (4 parts) which was created by state legislators to educate other legislators. Stay updated and join the discussion at The Ohio Freedom Alliance Forum.
2. Contact the Legislature. Send an email to your Rep as well as all of the members of the Judiciary Committee all at once using the Ohio Freedom Alliance SLAM tool. Or telephone your Representative and 11 Committee Members.
3. Join us at the Committee Meeting on Wednesday morning at 9:30am at the statehouse in Columbus to give testimony or just to show your support for the legislation’s withdraw. A large attendance will bring this issue into the spotlight and prevent a hasty, uninformed vote. Details here.

SUMMARY OF THE DANGER:
A Constitutional Convention has no limitations!

Once Congress calls for a Constitutional Convention Article V grants that assembled convention the exclusive power to propose amendments regardless of the original reason for its call. By its very definition a Constitutional Convention is a sovereign body and therefore cannot be limited.

Recall that the first Constitutional Convention was held simply for the purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation under Article XIII, which indicated that the consent of all State legislatures is required for amendment. Instead, delegates – having met in total secrecy for several months – emerged with a new fundamental government design, which stipulated that only nine of the thirteen states would have to ratify for the new government to go into effect.

Everything in the current Constitution could be tossed, and replaced with whatever the delegates decide. A new convention could even decide not to bother having the states ratify what it produces. A constitutional convention has no limitations. With today’s hostile and divided political climate, can we trust that our rights would be secure?

For questions, please contact:
Teri M. Owens
libertyinlaw@gmail.com
740-816-0933

Beware Article V

Part I, 10 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za8_pdJ1dPo

Part II, 10 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flHJrcdfbBg

Part III, 11 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly1Lh3bqtYM

Part IV, 8 min.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5jKAlgvCgg

Please use the “ShareThis” button below to email this alert to your friends and family, as well as vote it up on Digg and Reddit!

—–

UPDATE #2: The Cleveland Plain Dealer has finally decided to give this story some attention, even quoting this blog at one point. Unfortunately, they dismiss all reports of the SWAT team, deciding it’s just some crazies on the internet spreading rumors. Yes of course, believe the police, they’re always innocent and well-intentioned! Don’t do anything silly like wait for the family’s statement to come out…

Reason magazine has also picked up the story, also mentioning my humble little blog:

“The folks over at Peace Chicken (yes, that’s a real site, complete with chicken death doomsday clock) are seriously peeved.”

—–

UPDATE #1: Here’s a good update on this story, including the fact that the husband of the family wasn’t present for the raid because he was in IRAQ. And here is a letter from the family themselves, which includes ways you can help.

[Thanks to LewRockwell.com, Intel Daily, OpEdNews, and NowPublic for carrying this story.]

Below is an OUTRAGEOUS story of a Cleveland-area rural co-op that was raided by a SWAT team earlier this week for a supposed Ohio Dept. of Agriculture violation.

It reeks of police state, lack of Constitutional Rights, and excessive use of force. Unfortunately, this is not a new occurrence, it happens all the time, you just don’t hear about it in the news (big surprise.)

The immediate question that comes to mind — why was the SWAT team used to enforce an alleged Ohio Dept. of Agriculture rule violation? According to the Lorain County Sheriff’s SWAT page, they are intended to be used for these reasons:

• Hostage Situations: the holding of any person(s) against their will by an armed or potentially armed suspect.
• Barricade Situation: the stand-off created by an armed or potentially armed suspect in any location, whether fortified or not, who is refusing to comply with law enforcement demands for surrender.
• Sniper Situations: the firing upon citizens and/or law enforcement officers by an armed suspect, whether stationary or mobile.
• High-Risk Apprehension: the arrest or apprehension of armed or potentially armed suspects where the likelihood of armed resistance is high.
• High-Risk Warrant Service: the service of search or arrest warrants where the warrant service matrix or policy recommends or requires the use of SWAT.
• Personal Protection: the security of special persons, such as VIP’s, witnesses, or suspects, based on threat or potential threat to the well being of those persons.
• Special Assignments: any assignment, approved by the SWAT Operations Commander, based on a high level of threat and/or need.

Was the private selling of organic food by the Manna Storehouse REALLY one of those instances??

We must stand up for our fellow citizens and refuse to allow a transition from Buckeye State to Police State. After the story you’ll find a list of Cleveland news sources. PLEASE contact them and demand they investigate this story. I strongly believe people would be appropriately outraged if they only knew what was going on.

On Monday, December 1st, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM.

The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.

There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly supicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.

Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation’s private food supply.

This same type of abusive search and seizure was reported by those innocents who fell victim to oppressive federal drug laws passed in the 1990s. The present circumstance raises the obvious question: is there some rabid new interpretation of an existing drug law that considers food a controlled substance worthy of a nasty SWAT operation? Or worse, is there a previously unrecognized provision(s) pertaining to food in the Homeland Security measures? Some have suggested that it was merely an out-of-control, hot-to-trot ODA agent, and, if so, this would be a best-case scenario. Anything else might spell the beginning of the end for the freedom to eat unregulated and unmonitored food.

One blogger familiar with the Ohio situation has reported that:

“Interestingly, I believe they [Manna Storehouse] said a month or so ago, an undercover ODA official came to their little store and claimed to have a sick father wanting to join the co-op. Both the owner and her daughter-in-law had a horrible feeling about the man, and decided not to allow him into the co-op and notified him by certified mail. He came back to the co-op demanding to be part of it. They refused and gave him names of other businesses and health food stores closer to his home. Not coincidentally, this man was there yesterday as part of the raid.”

The same blog also noted that the Ohio Department of Agriculture has been chastised by the courts in several previous instances for its aggression, including trying to entrap an Amish man in a raw milk “sale,” which backfired when it became known that the Amish believe in a literal interpretation of “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away” (Matthew 5:42)

The issue appears to be the discovery of a bit of non-institutional beef in an Oberlin College food service freezer a year ago that was tracked down by a county sanitation official to Manna Storehouse. Oberlin College’s student food coop is widely known for its strident ideological stance about eating organic foods. It seems that the Oberlin student food cooperative had joined the Manna Storehouse food cooperative in order to buy organic foods in bulk from the national organic food distributor United, which services buying clubs across the nation. The sanitation official, James Boddy, evidently contacted the Ohio Department of Agriculture. After the first contact by state ODA officials, Manna Storehouse reportedly wrote them a letter requesting assistance and guidelines for complying with the law. This letter was never answered. Rather, the ODA agent tried several times to infiltrate the coop, as described above. When his attempts failed, the SWAT team showed up!

Food cooperatives and buying clubs have been an active part of the American landscape for over a generation. In the 1970s, with the rise of the organic food industry (a direct outgrowth of the hippie back-to-nature movement) food coops started up all over the country. These were groups of people who freely associated for the purpose of combining their buying power so that they could order organic food items in bulk and case lots. Anyone who was part of these coops in the early era will remember the messy breakdown of 35 pounds of peanut butter and 5 gallon drums of honey!

These buying clubs have persisted and flourished over the years due to their ability to purchase high quality organic foods at reduced prices in bulk quantities. Most cooperatives have participated greatly in the local agrarian economies, supporting neighborhood organic farmers with purchases of produce, eggs, chickens, etc. The groups also purchase food from a number of different local, regional and national distributors, many of them family-based businesses who truck the food themselves. Some of these food cooperatives have become large enough to set up mini-storefront operations where members can drop in and purchase items leftover from case lot sales. Manna Storehouse had established itself in such a manner, using a small enclosed breezeway attached to their home. It was a folksy place with old wooden floors where coop members stopped by to chat and snack on bags of organic corn chips.

The state of Ohio boasts the second largest Amish population in the country. Many of the Amish live on acreages where they raise their own food, not unlike Manna Storehouse, and sell off the extras to neighbors and church members. There is a sense of foreboding that this state crackdown on a longstanding, reputable food cooperative operation could adversely impact the peaceful agrarian way of life not only for the Amish, but homeschoolers and those families living off the land on rural acreages. It raises the disturbing possibility that it could become a crime to raise your own food, buy eggs from the farmer down the road, or butcher your own chickens for family and friends – bustling activities that routinely take place in backwater America.

The freedom to purchase food directly from the source is increasingly under attack. For those who have food allergies and chemical intolerances, or who are on special medical diets, this is becoming a serious health issue. Will Americans retain the right to purchase food that is uncontaminated by pesticides, herbicides, allergens, additives, dyes, preservatives, MSG, GMOs, radiation, etc.? The melamine scare from China underscores the increasingly inferior and suspect quality of modern processed institutional foods. One blog, commenting on the bizarre and troubling Manna Storehouse situation, observed that:

“No one is saying exactly why. At the same time the FDA says it it safe to eat the 40% of tainted beef found in Costco’s and Sam’s all over the nation. These farm raids are very common now. Every farmer needs to be fully equipped for the possibility of it happening to them. The Farmer To Consumer Legal Defense Fund was created just for this purpose. The USDA just released their plans to put a law into action that will put all small farmers out of business. Animals for the sale of meat or milk will only be allowed in commercial farms, even the organic ones.”

Source: http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/swat-team.htm
Also reported by The Morning Journal

Please use the ShareThis link below to email this to your friends and family!

This is a HEADS UP to everyone who cares about their future –
in 4 days patriots will meet in 38 cities across the country to End the Federal Reserve and we need YOU there!

WHY //

The Federal Reserve is an unconstitutional institution (see U.S. Constitution, Section 8, Clause 5) that drains the wealth of the American people through the inflationary process.

Despite silence on the true cause of our financial mess, every day it becomes more and more apparent that the #1 issue in our country is the economy and the falling dollar. Who is to blame for this? Who is printing all the money that drives down the value of our dollar? Who controls the interest rates upon which the fate of our banks, credit cards, loans, mortgages, and lives depend? These are very important questions to ask yourself.

One needn’t be an economist to understand: the Federal Reserve is neither federal, nor do they have any reserves. Our dollars are no longer backed by gold or silver. It is a “fiat” currency, and every economy that has used fiat currency in the past has ultimately collapsed. It’s time we demand that Congress END THE FED.

On November 22, 1910 the Federal Reserve Act was conceived at a private meeting of elite bankers. Ninety-eight years after its conception, we will gather to signal the end of its reign!

Patriots from across the country will join together to protest the Federal Reserve system. Activists will demand an END to private banker control over the nation’s money supply and the return to a hard, commodity backed monetary system.

WHERE //

All 38 Federal Reserve locations

WHEN //

This Saturday, November 22nd @ 12pm

DON’T FORGET //

Signs, banners, bullhorns, drums, whatever you need to make a statement.

FIND YOUR LOCAL FED //

http://www.abolishthefederalreserve.com/?p=55#findYourFed

DOWNLOAD FLYERS //

http://www.abolishthefederalreserve.com/?p=174

FOR MORE INFO //

http://www.abolishthefederalreserve.com/?p=55

YES WE CAN abolish the Federal Reserve!

TIP: Use the “ShareThis” button below to email this post to your friends and family, post to Facebook, Myspace, Digg, and more!

OurVoteLive.org is a great website that provides real-time information on voter reports and problems. You can view statistics nationally, state-by-state, or county-by-county.

In the spirit of transparent democracy, all the code is open-source. The project was a collaborative effort by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Verified Voting Foundation, and the Election Protection Coalition. I really think if these groups were put in charge of elections from now on, we’d all be much better off. Imagine— an open-source voting machine that wasn’t routed through GOP servers and gave you a receipt! But of course that would make too much sense.

As of this posting, there are 8,827 problems nationwide.

453 of those from Ohio, including this story of voters mysteriously dropped from the poll books in Columbus and Cleveland:

Voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) and Franklin County (Columbus) are reporting that:

• after voting from same address for years, they suddenly have disappeared from the list at polls
• they received a voter registration card/notice of registration and precinct, as recently as this fall — yet are not on the poll registry
• they are on the statewide database (DB) but not on the poll registry

Same s—t, different year.

How people can still believe politicians when they say we’re spreading democracy abroad is beyond me. We can’t even tally our votes at home!

Anyway— stay vigilant, fellow citizens. Now is the time for accountability and documentation. If you or someone you know has experienced anything fishy, be sure to report it! Either call 866-OUR-VOTE or report it online here.