You wonder what sitting in jail for four months–all for running a private food club–does to a guy. You wonder what it does to the people around him who were supposedly watching his back.
I’ve certainly wondered, especially with James Stewart finally being released after four months in a Ventura County jail, capped off by five days at the notorious Los Angeles County jail (known as the Twin Towers). (He was jailed last July after missing a couple court appearances in Los Angeles and Ventura County.)
I haven’t been able to reach Stewart, but have heard varying accounts of his state of health and mind from his friends. They say he lost nearly 40 pounds in jail because he couldn’t/wouldn’t eat the disgusting food he was served. They say he emerged, released on his own recognizance, pretty discouraged, since he still faces multiple legal issues, including the 38 felony counts in connection with Sharon Palmer’s loans to acquire the Healthy Family Farms site back in 2008, and a dozen felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with the original Rawesome Food Club.
On top of the Rawesome and Palmer-loan cases, there are ten more felony counts in connection with alleged evasion of state income taxes and property taxes associated with the Rawesome Food Club. Plus a civil suit by old pal Aajonus Vonderplanitz, seeking $20 million in damages, and a falling out with two partners he owned the Rawesome site’s Venice, CA, land with.
I may not have all the legal matters exactly up to date, since they are subject to shifts depending on possible settlement discussions.
While Stewart had spoken frequently before being jailed last July about resurrecting Rawesome Food Club, since his release from jail he has told friends he plans to go in a new direction and likely pursue a business opportunity distributing premium olive oil. While he felt let down by many in the Rawesome community, according to one friend, he said he wasnt bitter. I cant be like them, so I send them love.
But, of course, Stewart’s feelings can’t be packaged so neatly. It couldn’t be so neat if any of us were in Stewart’s unfortunate shoes. There would inevitably be a tangle of feelings and potential plans as part of any effort to get one’s life, thrown into such upheaval, back in order.
According to an email exchange he had with some friends, he is quite bitter at times, feeling he was seriously let down by the Rawesome community. Stewart copied me in on one exchange that started out as an election rant against the Republicans ostensibly trying to create “a new world order.” To which Stewart responded:
with all due respect ……all of you people who just talk about “things needing to change”…..you are all full of hot air ………..i was just convicted of 2 felonies for ” actually doing something about it …it was called rawesome foods …….and ALL OF YOU TALKING HEADS ARE A BUNCH OF COWARDS ………………….HERE`S MY COMMENT
IF EVERYONE IS WAITING FOR SOMETHING GOOD TO HAPPEN….HOW CAN ANYTHING GOOD HAPPEN , IF EVERYBODY IS WAITING??????
all of you people are “entitled” just as the public is…….
non-violence ….but action (doing something ) is the ONLY answer………..and none of you guys even extended yourselves to help me …………so much for the idea of COMMUNITY
sincerely
JAMES STEWART
One of Stewart’s friends then sent Stewart’s assessment on to a number of other people, commenting: “I felt that all of us should understand how terribly sad it is that we failed this man by not lending our support to him while he was UNJUSTLY incarcerated…
“None of us…not one of us…who are supposedly fighting the fight before us against tyranny …did anything to stand by James Stewart…and I had to ask myself the very painful question…If this debacle had happened to me or any of my family members or friends…would I not have hoped that everyone would have come together and stood up and rallied around me?
“Think about how alone…hopeless and segregated he must have felt during the whole despotic ordeal he was put through…for simply STANDING UP against the very tyranny that the rest of us claim to do…His property of Rawesome Foods was illegally annihilated by Feds…His and his family’s personal lives were turned inside out…his Constitutional rights were violated and he was falsely imprisoned with defacto trumped up bullshit charges…
“He…unlike most of us WHO TALK BRAVELY BEHIND OUR COMPUTER KEYBOARDS… went through the motions of taking an ACTUAL stand against tyranny and paid the price for it…during which time not one of us saw fit to gather and organize a solidarity protest of any kind against the very defacto tyrants that were committing this horrible offense against this man…”
I’m sure this individual spoke for many. There are strong feelings of guilt and regret out there. To which I would add:
There is no question many people let Stewart down very badly.
There is no question the Rawesome community fractured badly as a result of the terrible divisions between Stewart and his one-time friend Aajonus Vonderplanitz. Once the government learned about the divisions, prosecutors exploited them all they could, piling charges upon charges.
I should also point out that Stewart did have the support of a few awesome friends, who have provided him with amazing moral and financial support, and did try to mobilize opposition to his imprisonment.
Finally, something else needs to be pointed out: Having a community behind you in the event of such a calamity doesn’t just happen spontaneously. It takes a huge amount of planning. Stewart obviously never imagined the law enforcement apparatus would come down on him the way it did, and so he never prepared his community for what it needed to do to turn the attacks around into a political cause, and an opportunity to build a sustainable movement.
I can very much understand Stewart’s bitterness. Hopefully, he and the rest of us who support food rights can learn at least a couple of lessons.
First, people don’t just rise up spontaneously. They rise up when they feel confident in both their cause and their leadership, and when they truly value what they have to lose if they fail.
Second, the forces opposed to food rights are very serious in their agenda to limit our access to privately-available food, and will fully exploit every tool at their disposal and every division in the food rights movement, including locking people up for extended periods.
It is too bad one man has had to pay such a high price, but then, that is one of the tactics the opposition forces use–they pummel one or a few individuals to send a message to the masses: If you don’t behave, you could be next. If the masses refuse to accept the message, then the opposition loses, because the forces of oppression can’t possible jail every individual who truly values food rights. Getting supporters to move beyond fear is the major challenge of a movement.
**
Max Kane has been traveling the country demonstrating his Farmmatch.com site that brings consumers and farmers together. Most recently, he demonstrated the service at the Weston A. Price Foundation Wise Traditions conference, in Santa Clara, CA.
He reports, “We are averaging 27 consumers and 4 farms per day. We are over 2,000 registered users and just reached 2,000 likes on Facebook. We are in dozens of countries on all six continents and growing.”
His advice to readers here is to sign up at Farmmatch, and then: “Do a raw milk search and see consumers all over the U.S. who want non-GMO food and raw milk.”
If it is true that: his “rights were violated and he was falsely imprisoned with defacto trumped up bullshit charges…” then he has a massive lawsuit that will set him up financially for life.
I’m not aware of any “leaders” in the raw milk movement, etc. Has there been a designated leader? If so, how were they chosen and who chose them?
The Rawsome case from all we have gathered is very complex, unlike Vernon or Alvin or a few others. The internal factions, infighting, and other factors, coupled with an almost shangri-la type attitude after the first raid, really set them up as an exceptionally easy target for gov’t oppression.
There is no “leader.” Depending on the state, situation, and other factors, there is a movement of people who share a similar set of core beliefs about food, farming, and people’s right to choose the food they want from the farmer they want free from gov’t or other interference. Some people help across states or all around the country, like the people involved with organizing the raw milk freedom rides and food rights workshops to help locals get better organized. Some are more in the spotlight, like Liz Reitzig, while many, many are working much more behind the scenes.
In a given state, there are sometimes a core group of “leaders,” generally who just rise and become so because of the occasion and need for leadership to protect a farmer or set of farmers. But I have yet to see any situation where there is just one leader.
“very serious in their agenda to limit our access to privately-available food..”
I wonder about the implicitly very narrow focus of such formulations.
The Food Freedom movement, if it’s ever going to be a real movement, is first of all about the people’s right to grow their own food, and the abolition of the whole false producer/consumer dichotomy. Nothing short of that will save us from literal starvation as industrial agriculture collapses post-fossil fuels, not to mention the tyranny of the corporate state in the meantime.
Only as a supplement to this, where necessary or chosen, is it about the right to buy food from the farmer of one’s choice. That’s important too, but it’s only a part. (Meanwhile “public” and “private” is another false and fraudulent dichotomy. In case commenters here have failed to notice, the power structure recognizes no such separation where not convenient. Why should the people?)
I guess that’s the clarification I seek about this discussion. Is it about freedom, justice, and democracy, or does it have a far more narrow, basically mercenary scope? In that case the hang-separately types shall certainly do so, and deserve to do so.
Maybe a better way to describe where many (and again, not all, the movement is full of diverse characters) of us are is that the movement is about personal property and individual/community liberty and self-governance/ownership – primarily oneself, but also one’s land and possessions, that people have to right to do with them what they want and to engage in commerce/trade freely with others with their own without interference, whether that be raising food on their land, sharing or selling that food with whomever they choose, supporting the local farmer of their choice in the manner of their choice, whether by sale, co-ownership, or whatever other arrangement the people in those communities desire, etc.
Now, all this is often summed up in little ditties like “the food of a person’s choice from the farmer of their choice.”
I do not agree with democracy, nor its principles – being ruled by one tyrant is terrible, being ruled by the 51% tyranny is even worse. Majorities often act with the utmost lack of respect for morality and justice, and can be easily manipulated into actions that are highly unjust and evil. Many of us prefer the rule of law, a republic, over the rule of a majority, the mob. But I think we all also agree there is no perfect form of governance, all have benefits and drawbacks and dangers to be addressed.
Justice is a dangerous word as well, as justice needs defined, and different people define justice in radically different ways. So, to throw out the word justice and then leave it to the individual to decide what is just creates a multitude of problems.
This is the inherent problem in any dynamic, diverse movement; as you broaden the definition and issues you seek to address, especially depending on how it is done and what those issues are, you begin to marginalize people within the movement, fracturing it along other ideological lines.
So why is raw milk illegal?
It seems to me that the issue is about control and power. We live in a country that suppresses and regulates nutrient rich foods but deems genetically modified foods, toxic pesticides and chemicals as safe. It is no coincidence that President Obama appointed Monsantos vice president as his senior advisor to the commissioner of the FDA. This man was responsible for changing the FDAs policy when GMOs were introduced into our food without undergoing any testing whatsoever to determine their safety. The reason I mention this is to shed light on how politics and food are deeply intertwined.
Further on the author of the above article states, Raw milk is legal in ten states including California, and all raw milk products must carry a warning label informing consumers that the product potentially contains disease-causing microorganisms. The truth is that these microorganisms are vital for healthy intestinal flora. In fact, during the last century, raw milk was actually used as a medicine, for we knew that a healthy balance of bacteria is vital for the absorption of nutrients and overall health.
In his book Holy Shit the author Gene Logsdon states, If you are a lover of dairy products, you need to accept the fact that milk and manure go together like love and marriage. Its been that way forever, and humans and cows are still alive and more or less at peace with each other.
Ken
Sylvia,
I would just add to JohnM’s excellent summary that the localized movement he describes has been highly effective in supporting both Alvin Schlangen in Minnesota and Vernon Hershberger in Wisconsin, among others. It’s safe to say that the vibrant community support behind Schlangen helped convince a jury last September to acquit him of misdemeanor charges. Community support has been essential in helping Hershberger lay aside his fears and stand up to the Wisconsin regulatory-judicial intimidation.
I’d also say that national support, such as in the form of the Raw Milk Freedom Riders, is very important to the local community support systems. A few people have assumed leadership roles–as JohnM says, Liz Reitzig has played a huge role in helping organize all these efforts. As I indicated in my post, this is the kind of organizing that the Rawesome community never really had the benefit of, in large measure because of all the internal divisions.
I had James back until he broke his promise to me and then I was placed into an impossible position. I will not break my promises to my wife. When I put up my house to bail out James I promised my wife that I would protect our house above all else in case of bond forfeiture. When James followed a crazy man from Los Vegas instead of a rational attorney in CA and failed to attend his hearings. JAMES made the choice easy ( but heart breaking ) for me. My family came first. My promise to my wife came first.
James had the world of raw milk behind him until James lost contact with reality. Those of us that want raw milk to thrive, must do so with a clear reality check and after reading the the ART OF WAR.
Strategy, calm, smart consideration of laws, thoughtful consideration of the minds hearts and souls of your consumers….”what a win or success looks like”, These are all things to be considered. James did little of this. He operated outside of the law….never considered how his actions might effect others, never considered a strategy that was smart or long term. He embraced secrecy and thought that his secrets were safe and the rammifactions of being discovered were below him. Cash was king and rules were for every one else. He rationalized this into a reality that he loved and believed in. In the end….it finally caught up with him.
This is why James is by himself with just a few people that truly love him and bless those very good people. Raw milk is love and raw milk is a war. I have said this…Mike Schmidt has said this. Take this to heart. Each of us will have our own raw milk battles….of which teaching is our greatest tool. Leaders are not appointed or chosen…..they spontaneously appear when the need appears. They emerge when a battle is to be waged or people are to be led. “They appear”…..that is the greatest sign of a leader….”they showed up and stood up” and they had the idea and they did something about it. They are revered when they show that their strategies work and they are successful. A crisis creates and identifies leaders.
Incessant teaching and market building will in the end change the terraine and consumer dollar voting will take care of change. Raw milk is the medicine that will replace much of so-called symptom relief pharma modern medicine. Fix the gut…fix the body.
James never got this part and engaged it into his strategy and or reality. I pity and really feel sorry for James…he has suffered badly. When ever I consider an action….I also consider the downsides of the action. There are always consequences. We are adults and we must act like adults. We also live in a society that is somewhat corrupt. This must be considered as well.
Smart consideration….strategies. All missing from James reality check.
I’m sorry my inquiry triggered another obnoxious tangent, but I’ll try to get back to where I wanted to start.
When I say democracy I refer to true positive democracy, which means first and foremost full political participation and self-rule by the people themselves. So what I say has nothing to do with the pseudo-democracy of “representative” government. By definition those who are “represented”, i.e. who vote for their controllers, are not living democratically. We shouldn’t assume system ideology in our discussions, which is part of my point. Nor do we need to, given the looming end of fossil fuel industrialization. (Whether or not the Oil Age “required” centralized power hierarchies is a moot point. The pre- and especially post-oil ages certainly do not require them, and we know for a fact that the people do much better in every way without them.)
As in this case:
“Many of us prefer the rule of law, a republic, over the rule of a majority, the mob.”
This false dichotomy assumes centralization and mass society in the first place, which doesn’t have to be assumed at all. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy to want centralization and concentration and to smash up all organic communities, mashing all people together into an atomized mass, then deplore this as a “mob” and demand big, aggressive central government in order to control it. As for the “republican” form and the “rule of law”, this blog is just one of the thousands which, as a journalistic source, demonstrates how “law” is just the system’s convenience, and “republic” is just another form of tyranny. This kind of language is another demonstration of how conservatives and liberals are different forms of one another today. For example, how each has fundamentalist faith in government and dreams wistfully of Better Government, if only the bad apples and their “abuses” can be rooted out. But there are no bad apples and no abuses. Government cadres do their intended job, and government does what it was designed to do: aggrandize itself and further concentrate power. (That includes serving as flunkey for the corporations government creates as extensions of itself.) That was part of the fight the so-called “Anti-Federalists” waged with the so-called “Federalists” during the 1787-88 counter-revolution. (Those terms are of course backwards, in a spectacular example of Orwellian inversion. True federalism means power and control remain at the level of the participatory citizenry, whose councils can then form federations for certain purposes, whose delegates always remain fully accountable.)
As with everything else, the community, the tribe, must decide what’s just. Never a central government or its ideology. It’s not clear to me what ideology’s being espoused here. I’d readily agree with everything you listed if “land” (and resources) refers to the community/tribe’s land, and the right of return for all (and their ancestors) who have been driven off the land through every form of enclosure.
I think we would have much in common in terms of seeing self-rule/governorship done as locally/community based as possible. I would still submit that at that level, you need a rule of law, but am open to talking about this more. Even local communities can oppress and do horrible things to its members at times, and thus I think it prudent to have system that provides checks and balances across “spheres of sovereignty.” Have you ever hear of or studied the concept of sphere sovereignty?
I don’t believe in “better” government, unless that better government is primarily less government, though obviously many parts of our current government could function almost infinitely better. I do think, at least for the foreseeable future, though, that some form of centralized government is unavoidable and necessary, and as the nation’s founders said, needs to be kept in bounds and chains for the reasons you cite above, lest it destroy the smaller communities that govern themselves.
It will be interesting to see how regionalism/secessionism and other movements and real possibility of the black swans of history affect what the US and other nation’s look like in about 30-50 years.
As David is brave, so is this journalist. Exposing the atrocities of the pharmaceutical industry is indeed brave.
Gwen Olson (Olsen?) comes to mind when I hear of people who decide their conscience cannot take it anymore and they spill. She was a pharmaceutical rep and she is featured in some videos and articles. Possibly a google search would turn up her name and story. Also, Dr. Susanne Humphries, after 19 years in the allopathic field, went the alternative way after seeing what really goes on in medicine today. I also like to read stuff by Dr. Marcia Angell, who was the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and eventually had a light bulb moment. I still maintain that anyone who has time should really watch the 3 hour youtube vid called marketing of madness. You will never feel the same about psychiatry and you’ll have severe doubts about regular medicine, as well. At least I sure did. I watched 15 minutes here and there until I got through all three hours and now have watched the vid several times over the past couple of years. Amazing information. Few know it, and fewer believe it. How distressing for mankind.
Very enlightening and re-enforced many things I already believed. I post it on face book at least once a year and send in emails….
When people tell me they have a “chemical imbalance” I ask them: what test did they have done to discover that? Of course, there is no test for that. My next question is: what therapy are you getting to “learn” to deal with your problems? Usually the answer is none. I’ll look up the names you mentioned, thanks.
Central controllers, on the other hand, need and desire the very opposite. They depend on size and scope to push their ideas, and on homogenized societies that behave automatically. Of course, despite the confidence and power of central controllers, personal relationship cannot be done away with. Relationship thrives, and will always thrive, underneath all the rules and centralized forces, as Alvin Schlangen and his friends can well attest.
On a very practical note, local economies create the most effective titration of products and services to the needs and desires of people, which is to say the greatest efficiencies in economy and ecology are found in decentralized decision-making. The fit is always best when individualized. Likewise, the potential for poor fit, i.e. the potential for market manipulation, is directly proportional to the size and scope of purveyors, regulators, taxes, and laws. This is no more evident than in food production, where an intricate blend of big business and big government has succeeded in creating and sustaining enormous markets for pure crap—high-fructose corn syrup to denatured milk—that is an extremely poor fit. Joe Average would never accept them if he could see how they ruin livelihoods, soils, and human health. Of course when Joe does see, where can he turn for relief except to a local farmer working outside the system?
Alas, self interest is at the root of the problem, and that will never change. (In the Genesis account of mans creation, what appears immediately after the fall? Mighty men!) Believing that the same faulty humans who created the problem in the first place can effect a solution is delusional. The very best we can do is to limit the problem, i.e. limit power, and that is best accomplished by, whenever and wherever possible, decentralizing decision-making. (A very important bonus effect of decentralization, by the way, is a shortening of the distance between our actions and their results. As it is said, its easier to bomb hundreds from an airplane than to stab one. We are better people when we have to face our faults straight on.)
As much as our current struggle is a legal issue it has become a rather tragic reality of not enough critical mass, of apathy, and a deeply instilled consumerism which prevents the food freedom movement to go forward.
Sad but true.
Unless more farmers are jailed and if that is not enough unless consumers get charged and jailed as well, the movement appears just as a trendsetting fad and convenient outlet for wannabe rebells on the Internet, nothing more. The waking up others is costing more energy than farming alone in the wilderness.
“Angry farmers spray milk on riot police in Brussels”
Voicing and exhibiting their opinions?
With links for further opinions.
This movement must do all it can to spread the ideas:
To farmers – The switch away from commodity agriculture and toward local food is physically necessary (Peak Oil, soil exhaustion, general environmental exhaustion), and they’ll be economically and politically better off that way, and as part of such a movement.
To customers – Buying local food, learning cooking and food preservation, becoming food growers themselves, is necessary for our health, the key to rebuilding our local economies and redeeming our local self-rule, and necessary in light of the looming collapse of industrial ag.
To the public in general – Community Food is the core of rebuilding our local economies and regaining control of our politics and thereby our self-determination.
This affirmative basis will then be the strongest foundation for the civil disobedience of farmers and customers, and for communities to come together to support beleaguered farmers, in whatever way the system assaults them, from direct food police attacks to bank foreclosures to economic policies that harm local agriculture in general.
This is not me talking…this is the most reknown raw milk researcher in the world speaking.
Raw Milk foodies…we did not know that the best in science are about to expose the veil on pasteurized milk. We better get our shit together….literally. We need to be producing safe tested raw milk and teaching consumers. it not we will not be up to the challenge and massive opportunity that sits just a few years away. Dairy is going to die ( already dying off ) and it will be rebirthed anew with high value added and farmers that get paid well and appreciated by consumers directly.
Like I have said before…FDA’s John Sheehans days are numbered and so is the CEO of Deans foods etc…
Now I can almost put a date on their removal or resignation or incarceration….not sure which.
Mark
Ironically : in the last 4 years, 84 people died of complications arising from clostridium difficile which they contracted IN the Burnaby General Hospital – meaning, each of those people were originally admitted to hospital for something else. The only solution being offered by experts standing-by, wringing their hands, is “better cleaning”, meanwhile, the very antidote for that c dif. could be cultivated for pennies per portion, from cows / goats standing on farms, a few miles away. And guys like me, preparing to produce immune milk, face gaol, Having studied the history of the Cult of the White Robe, I find it comical, rather than tragic … this is how it always goes. For those who want to pursue it, go to the website of < truthquest2 >
The last act of Alta Dena was to provide me with their protocol for producing immune milk…yes…the Steuves were involved with providing immune milk at least that is what I was led to believe. Not sure to who and how or the details, but they had the complete immune milk protocol and they gave it to me. I have it in my hot little hands ( actually it is hidden far away from OPDC ).
The last time that the FDA found a farmer producing immune milk he was raided and jailed. You will not find me producing immune milk until UC Davis requests it…and the NIH or FDA signs off on the protocol. The time will come very shortly that all of our dreams of the FDA kissing our raw milk asses comes into vivid focus and reality. Lives are lost at the feet of the FDA and they do not care. The grand Karma knows all of this….would not want to be John Sheehan for all the money in the world.
This information is very uplifting to say the least…I pray Dr. German and associates are correct and there prognostications see the light of day soon…because we need this asap. Marietta
That sounds much like milkmaids and cowpox, similar theories.
http://web.uconn.edu/mcbstaff/graf/Student%20presentations/Smallpox/Smallpox.html
Will you be investing in James’ new olive oil venture? I hear he is a trustworthy businessman who keeps accurate records and pays taxes.
I wonder how much gold was payed to get this rating? Or does Max Kane not care that this dairy has multiple outbreaks per year that sicken little children, sometimes with life threatening diseases like HUS? Just wondering out loud…
OPDC payed nothing to Max accept respect and our unending support. What is your trip?
everything you say about raw milk seems destructive. What is your core belief?
Do you drink raw milk?
Have you ever milked a cow or tried to produce raw milk and sell it…have you ever been visited ( with out notice or invitation ) by 6 gov-ment agencies all at once ( 3 of them armed ) for an audit- inspection of your operations…just because they want to check you out and find out if everything is ok?
You talk alot and you talk long…but you lack any credentials what so ever to be critical of those that walk the walk and talk much less. I still can not forget the kiss you smacked on my cheek last year at James rally in LA. I still can not figuer you out. You kiss the raw milk man that feeds your kids ( at least back then ) then you attack me and everything raw milk.
I do not want to put a label on you….but perhaps you can explain what makes you tick.
By the way…blessings to all it is quickly becoming Christmas time!!
Mark
It’s called narcissistic personality disorder. Quite a few in the raw milk world have it and they like to whip up drama with their victim-hood. Thank you for speaking your truth.
Applejax,
I know of a few people who felt put off by James when he was in jail. I had an unpleasant conversation with him at one point, when he suggested I wasn’t doing enough for him. I attributed it to the stress and pressure he was experiencing, which was considerable…especially since I had previously seen the gracious and generous side of James.
I don’t even know him so I’m not making excuses for him, mind you, I’m just saying the circumstances weren’t exactly perfect. I’m sure he felt betrayed in more ways than one.
And then she and Amanda Rose had the gall to say that I was a plant at this forum/blog??? How low do they go? If anyone’s a plant it’s Kristin P. I’ve never shown anything but genuine support for raw milk, small sustainable types of farming, and the whole food rights movement. I guess we just have to let her get her kicks by attacking.
“just customers,” “his store,” “running a business” are phrases that as commonly understood are inaccurately applied to Rawesome. How would you define these terms?
In all sincerity,
Mr. J. Ingvar Odegaard
Now yes, it was nice of you & your husband to go visit him when he was first incarcerated, but the point that David was trying to point out is that over the course of time more & more people drifted away, became silent, etc. & that was clearly evidenced as time passed on. With regards to your comment of your visit where you thought is was being ‘cut’ short…well, in case you didn’t realize it (& I am very much familiar with, due to some family members who have a bad habit of being incarcerated from time to time) the inmates ONLY get 30 mins of visitation PER WEEK. In other words, this 30 min visitation consists of two people at a time & if there are more than two people that want to visit, then the 30 min visit must be split up for the others to be able to visit! You will probably never be subjected to the deplorable conditions, soul, mental & physical crushing experience that James went through. You have absolutely NO idea of what he truly went through, as well as, what he is going through right now. It is going to take a lot, both in time & health before this man will be able to function & feel somewhat normal. In the meantime, you & your husband get to go merrily on your day-to-day, happy, healthy life!!
Good answer Deborah. This is the hardest habit for most people to break. Thinking of every human activity as a business is how we got to the place where every human activity needs to be approved and regulated and taxed. Commerce is a creation of the government.If you want to play that game you must play by the rules of the game’s creator. Dividing people into “consumers” and “producers” or “business owners” and “customers” sets us up to turn over our power to an agency of the government. The best quality food is NOT available in the world of commerce.To find really high quality food you need to find a source that does NOT insist on making “economic sense”. It runs on our love for each other. To Applejax ……. You have to make a choice between the convenience of the business- customer relationship and the commitment of the member supported private food system. You can’t straddle the fence.
miguel
Good points, Deborah and Miguel. I would just emphasize that not only did everyone who joined the Rawesome Food Club pay a membership fee, they signed a membership agreement that was very specific in rejecting the conventional “public” food system, and in articulating what made Rawesome different–members’ desire for food containing bacteria, food not heat treated in any way, meat not raised with soy, eggs not refrigerated, and so on. So if Applejax thought she was in just another market, well, she may have not read the agreement, or else was confused.