Last May, Sen. Rand Paul proposed an amendment to a spending bill for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce the agency’s police powers. He was especially concerned about “sending armed FDA agents into peaceful farmers land and telling them they cant sell milk directly from the cow.”
He added, “Some of you might be surprised the FDA is armed. Well, you shouldnt be.”
Sen. Paul’s proposal (which was roundly defeated, with 15 Senators in favor) prompted a Sarah Lawrence College student, Will Duffield, to file a request under the federal Freedom on Information Act, seeking, “Itemized records of all firearms and destructive devices (as defined in 26 USC § 5845) possessed by the Food and Drug Administration. Additionally, all records pursuant to the acquisition, maintenance, and deployment of said weapons is requested.”
The FDA provided 35 pages of documents showing the purchase of 52 Sig handguns (most with night sights) and 28 Remington shotguns. The purchases were made between 2007 and 2011, according to the documents. (Unfortunately, the documents were larger than this system could accommodate, so I can’t make them available here.)
But that isn’t the entire extent of the purchases. The FDA said in its response to Duffield: “Certain material has been deleted from the records furnished to you because a preliminary review of the records indicated that the deleted information is not required to be publicly disclosed and that disclosure is not appropriate.”
Why was information deleted? Among the checked-box reasons:
The information “would disclose techniques, procedures or guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law” and “could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.”
Also omitted: “Documents constituting records compiled for law enforcement purposes which contain law enforcement techniques, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of laws or regulations, or impede the effectiveness of law enforcement activities.”
Sounds like the old “protection” excuse to me. The FDA specializes in “protection,” after all–first and foremost about protecting its interests.
I think it’s safe to assume that these documents describe only the tip of the FDA’s armaments iceberg. There are a lot of weapons being stashed away in agency offices around the country. And why do they need the night sights? For night raids of small farms?
In his Senate speech in favor of the amendment, Rand summarized the situation in alarming terms: “We have nearly 40 federal agencies that are armed. Im not against having police, Im not against the army, the military, the FBI, but I think bureaucrats dont need to be carrying weapons and I think what we ought to do, is if there is a need for an armed policeman to be there, the FBI who are trained to do this should do it. But I dont think its a good idea to be arming bureaucrats to go on the farm to, with arms, to stop people from selling milk from a cow. I think we have too many armed federal agencies, and that we need to put an end to this.”
Remember the flu shot doesn’t make you sick…..
Also, off topic, today, please remember all of those that we lost on 9/11, all of the flight crews, the passengers, the people within the Twin Towers, the firefighters, the policemen, the volunteers and my two cousins. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated, I am still having issues with losing two very special people in my life, I miss them each and every day. Thank you and many blessings to each of you!
She elaborates on the above statement in the following article,
http://www.canada.com/health/all/shot+problem+dismissed+Canadian+problem+study+suggests/7214493/story.html
“But who knows, frankly? The wise man knows he knows nothing when it comes to influenza, so you always have to be cautious in speculating.”
Now that is certainly a mouthful, I wonder if the doctor will role up her sleeve and get a flue shot?
Ken
I like market building….when everone is drinking raw milk…then regulations regarding raw milk will become more fair and research dollars will find their way to raw milk. First teach and build market. This is happening in CA. Major changes occuring in the markets. In the last 10 years, fluid milk utilization from the production of all fluid milk in CA dropped from 17% to 13%. That is a 4% drop in 10 years. That is massive and during that same time, hundreds of millions was spent to prop up fluid milk consumption. It did not work. The Milk Mustache failed miserably. Yogurt is ok and so are butter and cheese….but not dead milk.
Take this same example to the Second Amendment. I am a peace loving, freedom loving guy 100%. But I also take personal responsibility very seriously. If more Americans were competetant gun owners, if more Americans took responsibility for their own safety, both through peace making and also gun ownership ( or other means of effective protection )….the powers at be would be a whole lot less carefree about brandishing guns and thinking they can take lives at will. The ability to shoot back is crucial to our freedom. Our forefathers knew this….this is the basis for the 2nd Amendment. The knowledge that the citizens ( or most of them ) care about freedom and will defend that freedom is critical to the respect that we will keep.
Ever attend a CCW class? ( gun permit class ) or shooting range ? You will not find a more polite or considerate group of people. When others know that you are cabable of lethal force…they treat you with a different regard.
When I met with my State Department of Public health guys last year, they knew that I am fully prepared to defend myself on the farm. As a direct result they were very considerate and did not trample my rights. I also respected their rights and kept them inside of the bounds of their rights and authorities. I mind my manners and so do they. Everything works just fine.
We Americans start having major problems when we abondon the hard work of defending and exercising all of our rights. If we want freedom…we must exercise it. That includes the responsibility to learn how to shoot straight and be a law abiding citizen. Everyones Manners will become a whole lot better if we all knew that we all had taken responsibility for the our full range of rights.
I can not think of one of the major shootings that have recently happened that would have occured, if more people had Concealed Weapon Permits, and the training that goes with this responsibility. When Super Ass KillerMan entered the Batman Theater, he should have been dropped after his first shot or sooner. With a room full of people, at least 3 should have been armed and protected the balance.
It is all kind of like good bacteria and bad bacteria. In a sterile environment only the pathogens are fed and they have the power to really mess things up. Just like post pasteurization contamination.
In raw milk, the place is filled with good bacteria and the pathogens never have a chance to dominate or grow. As long as the good are powerful and moral….the bad will be contained.
This is a natural law. That also does not mean that every one needs to go out and pack heat. We just need enough people to take this responsibility seriously, so that no idiot sicko enters into a movie theater thinking that the room is filled with no one that can and will shoot back. This may all sound strange coming from Mark McAfee. I love and honor peace.
This world is filled with terrible and horrible things. It is not filled with rainbows and dreamy thoughts of daisies. We should not be preoccupied with guns ….but there are those that are. So we the peace keepers must take this responsibility seriously and be the probiotic in the world….
Love and peace…comes with responsibility also, just like eating, your health, your immune system and your GUT.
Calling 911 works great….but it is far to late. Even with paramedics…we the citizens need to know first aid and CPR or the paramedic efforts do not work so great. The same goes for police officers and their efforts to protect us. We the people are responsible and as we make it our goverments responsibility more and more….we are less and less free…and sicker and sicker and sometimes deader and deader.
“Ernesto Cortes Jr., organizer of the Industrial Areas Foundation network in Texas and the San Antonio-based Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), has plainly described activist’s necessary relationship to elected officials: It’s unfortunate that fear is the only way to get some politicians to respect your power. The refuse to give you respect. They don’t recognize your dignity. So we have to act in ways to get their attention. In some areas, what we have going is the amount of fear we can generate. We got where we are because people fear and loathe us.(1)” Randy Shaw. The Activist Handbook, page 45.
And the revolution isn’t buying off politicians via lobbying, is it? So how are you going to get politicians to fear raw milk farmers? It would appear that the only viable option (The one that the revolution doesn’t want to tell you about – David’s false dilemma, right?) is exposing local corruption, isn’t it? If you can educate the public that the government obstructs justice in raw milk prosecutions, then the crooked government will stop doing the malicious prosecutions, won’t they?
There was a hospital in Fresno that required the chickenpox vax. (I had chicken pox when I was 4) I refused and accepted a contract in Sacramento that paid much better. I’ve never had a flu shot and never will accept one.
Patients often say they get the shot adn still get the flu.
Thimerosal Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative used in some vaccines and other products since the 1930’s. There is no convincing evidence of harm caused by the low doses of thimerosal in vaccines, except for minor reactions like redness and swelling at the injection site. However, in July 1999, the Public Health Service agencies, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and vaccine manufacturers agreed that thimerosal should be reduced or eliminated in vaccines as a precautionary measure. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/thimerosal/
Since 2001, with the exception of some influenza (flu) vaccines, thimerosal is not used as a preservative in routinely recommended childhood vaccines.
‘During the 1910s and 1920s, the third degree was frequently publicized by the media and civic organizations (Chisholm and Hart, 1922), and in some cities *** police complained that they were perpetually on the defensive against the charge of improprieties.*** In the ** muckraking tradition of the Progressive era, newspapers regularly reported allegations of police abuses and decried violent interrogation practices in popular editorials, graphically describing the disfiguring injuries that sometimes resulted. ** Plays were written about the third degree and performed in theaters. In detective fiction and motion pictures, the third degree was treated as a standard police practice. Bar association committees, civil liberties group, and grand juries investigated custodial police abuses and issued reports. Sometimes police officers joined the fray by publicly defending and justifying their third-degree methods in news stories, articles, and books (See Chisolm and Hart, 1922).
Popular criticism of police interrogation practices culminated in 1931 with the publication of Volume 11 of the Wickersham Commission Report, Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement. *** It created a national scandal. ***’
Richard A. Leo, Police Interrogation and American Justice, (Cambridge: 2008), Page 69-70.
“It would appear that the only viable option (The one that the revolution doesn’t want to tell you about – “David’s false dilemma, right?) is exposing local corruption, isn’t it? If you can educate the public that the government obstructs justice in raw milk prosecutions, then the crooked government will stop doing the malicious prosecutions, won’t they?”
If you think I created “a dilemma,” please know I didn’t intend to. You are correct, I didn’t mention “exposing local corruption” as an option, and that was an oversight on my part. It’s not something I have written a lot about or been heavily involved with, but not because I don’t think it is important. If you can point me toward evidence showing “the government obstructs justice in raw milk prosecutions” in particular cases, I will be glad to consider writing about it and/or to link to what you write so we can “educate the public” and “stop the malicious prosecutions…”
Minnesota Food Freedom Farmer Alvin Schlangen Published on May 9, 2012 by CreationKeeper
short version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tdEoMNYmco . Lion News: Alvin Schlangen – Minneapolis MN Prosecutes Him For Crimes He Didn’t Commit! Published on Aug 13, 2012 by ArrestAJudgeKit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBY3LLRoPk0 (Corrected Version)
Thanks for those videos. I had seen your interview of Schlangen and was going to link to it when I write further about his case upcoming. In the meantime, for your background, here are a couple of posts I have done about the crackdown in MN, including the campaign against Schlangen, and state government abuse:
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2012/may/17/lots-bobbing-and-weaving-going-mn-mda-gets-delay-schlangen-trial-opdc-cleared
http://www.thecompletepatient.com/article/2011/march/11/what-do-you-call-mn-campaign-against-nutrient-dense-food-confiscation-theft
If you read his blog you would know the answer to that.
“However, you have decided to sit on this information until after the conviction, haven’t you?”
Darn, you found me out.
Are Rhetorical Questions Persuasive?
“By arousing curiosity, rhetorical questions motivate people to try to answer the question that is posed. Consequently, people pay closer attention to information relevant to the rhetorical question. . . .”
Perhaps with one or two rhetorical questions the subject may be further thought on by the listeners. When EVERY sentence becomes a question, then very few really listen.
“At this point, I think it is important to note that the fundamental problem in the study of rhetorical questions is the lack of focus on the persuasive effectiveness of different types of rhetorical questions. Clearly, an ironical rhetorical question is going to have a different effect on an audience than an agreement rhetorical question. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on how different types of rhetorical questions operate in a persuasive context.”
(David R. Roskos-Ewoldsen, “What Is the Role of Rhetorical Questions in Persuasion?” Communication and Emotion: Essays in Honor of Dolf Zillmann, ed. by Jennings Bryant et al. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2003)
However, the influence exerted by the covert methods of interpersonal control is harmful to human well-being and normal development. One of the major ways such methods work is through the evocation of human misery in the myriad of shame, guilt, and anxiety. Gaslighting, The Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Covert Control in Psychotherapy & Analysis, Theo L. Dorpat (Maryland: 2004), Page 29.
Do you give “helpless, little, tiny, kiddies vaccinations for pay?”
Do you really care if anyone answers your questions?
Why do you assume there is any attempt to manipulate?
The Government manufactures evidence for use in closing down small businesses that it doesn’t approve of.The use of the word “match” as in “we have found matching fingerprints” when referring to PFGE patterns is deceptive. Milky Way repeatedly uses this word to imply that this is evidence against a cheese maker or small dairy.The correct phrase is “we are unable to distinguish between the two samples”There is a big difference between the two. Two microbes can have identical PFGE patterns without being genetically related.
The whole fable that Health departments can track microbes from a stool sample back to the soil on a farm should be exposed.Looking at pieces of DNA of a microbe does not tell you how that microbe will act.Epigenetics is the study of how a cell’s environment influences how it’s genetic potential is expressed. In other words — Biologic context determines whether a microbe is beneficial or detrimental to the host.
It appears many are preparing for a long fight.
MW, Are you implying that theres more honor in voting people off the mainland (especially with fees, fines, guns and jail terms)?
Personally Im quite content to be an island man, since the herds on the mainland are continually in trouble, whether they know it or not. : )
Milky Way,
Am I right that “match” is the wrong word to use when describing the results of PFGE tests? I know that the patterns might match but the inference is that we have matched the DNA of two samples.This is NOT necessarily so. Why do you persist with this disinformation? How many enzymes need to be used in the testing to assure that we have similar samples? How many enzymes do the labs routinely use? And even if they did use enough enzymes and do enough tests,would the results really give us any useful information? Isn’t it true that microbes respond differently depending on their situation?
miguel