Heritage Swine and Small Farms Prey to CAFO-pressured DNR?

First we aren't allowed to determine what we will drink and now a government agency will decide whose herds are "safe" and will do away with any that they deem suspect.  If feral swine are a concern then do away with feral swine on a case-by-case basis.  Attacking heritage breeds on small farms is not acceptable.  Blanket laws that do not delineate between  small, organic farms with well-maintained, effectively-contained animals and fly-by-night operations or wild animals are damaging.  We need the diversity of heritage breeds to avoid mono-culture that will require ever-more chemical measures to sustain and run the risk of being wiped out all at once should nature move faster than we can - which we know can happen.
The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund reports on this and other attempts to tamp down our whole-food alternatives.  Please consider both sides when big government issues alarmist reports - there are too many factors to consider just one side or the other.  Become an informed consumer (literally - I mean you are putting these things into your body daily!) and make your voice heard based on what you discover.

I passed a delivery truck for one of our local pork-producers yesterday.  It was running but rusty.  The local farmers are fighting to feed their families, not keep their lobby dollars.  They are farming via their beliefs, not fishing for votes.  These people are not in it for the money, prestige or influence.  They simply want to be independent, self-sustaining, consumer-pleasing and left alone.

Hunger Games? or Real Life?

When I read the books I said I wouldn't go see the movies so I wouldn't be just like the audience in the Capitol, gawking at these kids killing each other for "honor" and "tradition" (public reasons) and dumb-down entertainment for the mindless herd and a reminder threat to the oppressed (real reasons).  Half-way through the movie I remembered my vow and felt like a hypocrite but my husband said it was a good reminder to see it, and indeed it was.  Control is a corrupting and slippery slope - the more one has at stake from being in a position of power (money, control, celebrity) the more s/he will be willing to cross ethical and moral and spiritual lines to maintain it.  This is not simply a fictional account - there are examples of it every single day in our world.  Someone's son or husband or mother dies or gets a little sicker so that someone in control can still be treated to an expensive trip or so his company can continue to profit from building defense machines or so we can buy cheap gas or so the drug money won't dry up (and I don't necessarily mean drug lords or war criminals, but people we see on CNN too).  I have heard it said that the next conflict affecting this country will not be about race or nationality - it will be about poverty and greed.  Our food supply is going to suffer because fewer control more of it and it does not have the strength of diversity.  Government should not be in control of how we nourish ourselves.  This is not the business government was meant to be in and the constituents never approved the USDA or other groups who have control, supposedly for the public good but undoubtedly in the pockets of big money agriculture.  This hits your family right on the dinner table and in the bodies of your babies.    The Hunger Games are not as far away from reality as you might think. Click the link above - take the quiz - learn more.