Slippery Slope Soda Sanction Sought

There is one thing I am more in favor of than a whole food, self-sustaining lifestyle and that is a person's right to choose or not choose it - or any given lifestyle.  If I want to drink raw milk I will drink raw milk.  If I want to drink lighter fluid I will - I will suffer the consequences that naturally occur but at least that stemmed from my right to live my life on my own terms, so long as that immediate action doesn't infringe upon the rights of another.

This article has some VERY disturbing quotes from Law Professor Rick Hills.  Do we realize we have been allowing the courts to set a precedent for government to curtail our freedom?  The defense that a bill, should it be made law, infringes on our personal freedom should and by rights (and a little document some government representatives like to misrepresent or ignore all together) ought to be ENOUGH to warrant that bill's failure. 

The telling part of this article is Mayor Bloomberg's lamenting the health system having to compensate for people's less-than-healthy choices.  The government SHOULD NOT be involved in health care, period.  If anything is inflated, bloated, overextended and excessive, it is our government and the many extensions of it (most of which were not sanctioned by the people - an officeholder abuse in and of itself).  A bill reducing government size and its over-reaching infringement is what is in order here. 

Free will (provided the immediate action does not trod upon a fellow human) is human dignity and self - I repeat SELF-sustenance is a worthy goal.  Those in support of placing conditions on how others live their lives are generally either weak themselves or have an agenda, usually involving justification of their own jobs or a desire to control others in an effort to elevate their own station.  This is arrogance, this is flagrant bullying and this is WRONG. 

“Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”
Thomas Jefferson

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”

Ronald Regan

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.

Wal-nots? F-duh, US-duh and other unhealthy alphabet soup...

Walnuts are Drugs Says FDA
It is heartening that people are trying to get back to whole food - food that energizes and builds your systems and fuels you for good works. It is also obvious that we must work at this individually, locally and with a discerning attitude.

I spotted a saying yesterday:

Real eyes
realize
real lies

It is time to stop looking to (or if you are already working toward self-sufficiency, allowing)the administration of this country to tell free citizens what or what not to do. I don't mean traffic signals or fraudulent contracts - there certainly is a place for building infrastructure and judging acts that violate civil liberties (with appropriate due process, not via an agency designed to skirt the people's voice in lawmaking). But the public servants of the U.S. government (the government being the people) are so desperate to be indispensable they entrench themselves in areas that should be left to each individual, family and community. If I wish to obtain and eat a walnut, or even gather and sell them then I should have the freedom to do so. If I do not do my research then yes I might become ill or I might be creating an opportunity for some other easily led soul to become ill. I will suffer the natural consequences either way. Is it easier to pay a behemoth administration do the research and caution me - probably - but if I give up my responsibility I also give up my freedom and leave my future to the agenda, which may or may not be in my best interest, or others. The odds for a meaningful and fulfilling existence are better if I take care of myself, if my family makes it's own food choices and if my local community reaches out face to face with those who cannot do these things for themselves. We must strive, through research, education and our own hands-on experience to cultivate real eyes so we can think and act for ourselves. Easier said than done? Sure. Are we up to the task? More than we know. Worth it? Definitely.