HR 875 Anyone else Freaked Out by this??

[wifezilla]

The administration could not publicly promote organic gardening, and then sign off on a bill that would "criminalize organic farming and outlaw home gardening." It's absurd.

Since when are the words "absurd" and "government" mutually exclusive?

 

[me&thegals]

I received the following this morning from Local Harvest:
LocalHarvest.orgLocalHarvest Newsletter, March 25, 2009

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It's been a big month for people who love real food. As you've no doubt heard, the First Lady planted a garden. On Friday my email inbox was full of messages triumphantly singing out the news. We'd like to send our own congratulations and thanks to Kitchen Gardeners International, a small organization that worked on this idea tirelessly and with great creativity over the last 15 months. It's a good one, and we believe the nation will be better for it.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've also received a barage of emails about the "Food Safety Modernization Act", or HB 875. The tone of these was somewhere between concerned and hysterical. From what we have learned, HB 875 is not the horror story it has been made out to be. It would not, for example, result in "totalitarian control" or "the planned elimination of farmers" as one oft-forwarded email put it. It actually contains some sound ideas. But for some reason, myths and misinformation about this bill have taken root and spread like a noxious weed.

It got me to thinking. First, truth be told, it made my head spin. All this justifiable jubilance stuffed in next to that screeching panic felt downright disorienting. The administration could not publicly promote organic gardening, and then sign off on a bill that would "criminalize organic farming and outlaw home gardening." It's absurd.

But what does it mean, to have so much exuberance in the locavore community on the one hand, and so much fear and loathing on the other? I think it comes down to this: food, and the ability to grow it honestly, is fundamental to our well-being. We celebrate when we see the food we love, and the values behind it, being respected by influential people. And if we feel that our right to grow that food without undue interference is threatened, we react strongly.

That said, it seems to me that we need to take a breath and put both of our hands to work. We can, each of us, sow at least one seed this spring. If the First Lady thinks pulling a few weeds is a good activity for her family, it's probably good for ours too - and it is. We can, each of us, also follow the food safety bills as they make their way through Congress, writing to our representatives to tell them how important small scale, organic agriculture is to us and to our communities.

It turns out that HB 875 is unlikely to go anywhere. And that's not necessarily great news, given that it contained some ambitious, positive changes. Our friends at the Cornucopia Institute tell us that 875 has been passed over for another food safety bill, HB 759. They, and others like Food and Water Watch think that we will need to make our voices heard as HB 759 moves forward, to ensure that the bill that is eventually passed includes exemptions for small food processing facilities and the same kind of smart, risk-based inspection processes that are contained in HB 875. We'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of the newsletter, take good care, and eat well.

Erin Barnett
Director, LocalHarvest

Thank you! This is exactly the type of calm, levelheaded reporting that I am most likely to listen to. It will be interesting to continue to follow both bills. One great thing about all this outrage is that at least a few politicians are seeing how dearly we hold the right to grow and sell our own food.

 

[rebbetzin]

The administration could not publicly promote organic gardening, and then sign off on a bill that would "criminalize organic farming and outlaw home gardening." It's absurd.

Since when are the words "absurd" and "government" mutually exclusive?

It makes as much sense as Michelle Obama making military famlies her "mission" by speaking at Ft. Bragg. While on the same day her husband publically considers the idea that wounded vets pay for their own medical treatment through private insurance.

Senators slam plan for wounded vets to use private insurance
By Adam Levine

March 12, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

Lawmakers say theyd reject a proposal to make veterans pay for treatment of war wounds with private insurance.

But the proposal would be "dead on arrival" if its sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget

Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasnt been made yet," he said

So taxpayers dollars will be available for healthcare for illegal aliens and deadbeats, but not for wounded soldiers?

Such a world we have.

You can find me in the garden...

 

[vfem]

You know, I think that is ridiculous that a vet would need private insurance to cover wounds inflicted in the name of our country... however, can I just point out the lack of the government doing much about our wounded soldiers to start with.


My brother in law was wounded 6 years ago in an accident while on military time! He has nerve damage that needs surgery, though it may be too late now. The government said the closest VA to do this surgery was out of state and they would not allow him to travel for this surgery because a VA doctor stated through pain medication the pain from the damage could be regulated.

He's on 10% disability, and can't get a job at 32 years old. He's been trying to get work, with insurance so he could sit on the grace period long enough to pass the needed amount of time for pre-exsisting conditions and get this $75k + surgery done!

I think there should be some kind of private insurance coverage on soldiers that will cover what the VA will not!

Sorry to hijack this thread. But something HAS to be done. There should be more money for care we owe them, then to buy more GUNS! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[wifezilla]

They are talking about this on the Glenn Beck show. I don't see a transcript up yet on his site though...

www.glennbeck.com

 

[dbjay417]

When that argument was put to me originally (I posed it to myself), my answer was similar in nature but different.

They are elitists, their whole life mission is to enjoy doing what they stop others from doing, because the lesser castes are not capable of doing it responsibly.

About the vets, I can think of people who are getting anywhere from a couple hundred dollars a month in welfare, to those companies getting billion dollar bailouts, none of which have done anything to earn the money. The one group of people who have earned, and truly deserve government compensation are going to be hassled about it??

I'm not a supporter of the war, never have been. there are just too many juicy ulterior motives for it to be 100% on the up and up. Too many coincidences, too many "mistakes", that work conspicuously to the benefit of certain entities in this country both political and corporate.

Still, our fightin boys, and girls are over there doing the bidding of the idiots we so irresponsibly elect, and when they come back with drug addiction, mental illness, and physical handicaps, they deserve nothing but the full support of the government and the people, who are equally responsible for putting them in harms way.

edited for language, although I absolutely agree with your sentiments

 

[Robb Simer]

Just a thought: Mao Zedung was very correct when he said [as quoted in his little Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung: "Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political Power grows out of the barrel of a gun."[Qoted from my copy of Quaotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung - from his Problems of War and Strategy, November 6, 1938, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 224] Hitler could have said the same thing. Indeed, so too could Augustus Ceasar [had he a gun]. President Bill Clinton, when asked by a reporter why the people of Hati did not overthrow "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his Tan-Tan Maru thugs replied that they could not because they were an "unarmed" people. The upshot of all the foregoing is that "governments" are populated by people that must "control" others. It is their nature, their very being."They know best what is right, and good, and safe for us and "The Children." If that "controlling for our own good" happens to be profitable to them, their families (read all the royalty of the world) and their friends, all the better. I read that the American government scene seems to be becoming more facist-ic everyday, I don't know about that, I do know that I am a good Texan. The founding premise of Texas government was "no government is the best government.' Of course this is not practical, so it is best to keep them from getting together and passing useless, needless, repetitive laws. The change that this law seeks to create, for the betterment of all, of course, cannot come from public laws. It must come from the heart inside of each individual human. Nothing else will work. nothing else will stop the avoidance, perverting, mis-interpreting and every other form of malfeasance possible by the human person.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Another perspective from a website called civil eats .

The bill does include required food safety registration and new safety regulations for food producers, which includes any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation. Farms are defined by the federal government as operations selling at least $1,000 worth of food per year, and the word garden doesnt ever come up in the bill, so the fears about H.R. 875 banning backyard veggie gardens is utterly unfounded. The term organic is not used at any point in the document, but the bill does call for the provision of technical assistant and time extensions to make it easier for small operations to get registered (which is free, by the way), and comply with the new safety requirements.

 

[setter4]

Just found this on Factcheck
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/would_a_new_bill_in_congress_make.html

 

[Sylvie]

Just found this on Factcheck
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/would_a_new_bill_in_congress_make.html

Good find setter4.