Here's a response from Minnesota Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar that my buddy Shawn got (notice the sections in red). As I've been saying ad nauseum, under the auspices of "care", "concern", and "welfare" for the American people, government continues to expand in its size, scope, authority, and jurisdiction. And, as much as the American people largely proclaim to abhor "big" and "intrusive" government, it seems that what they detest ever more is a lack of protection and regulation from government. The fundamental question of course is that when you turn over the reigns to government for the sake of safety and security as your primary concern, what then becomes government's primary concern??
Begin....
I love the rhetoric in our Senator's response to my concern about her co-sponsoring of S.510. (the law that would put the nail in the coffin of small farmers and food freedom). As I've noted in red, it's coded with all the trimmings that Congress loves: new authorities, requirements, regulations, increase in inspectors, requires more certifications, and we throw money at the problem, all to "protect the people". The greatest form of tyranny comes from power hungry lawmakers doing what's best for us. It reminds me of these quotes below.
'Useful,' and 'necessity' was always 'the tyrant's plea'."
-- C. S. Lewis
"If the people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state, as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." -- Thomas Jefferson
"What makes me sad is that people think the FDA is here to protect them, it's not. It's here to protect the profits of the corporations that pay us." -- Herbert Ley former Commissioner of the FDA for over 10 years
"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated
under the shield of law and in the name of justice." -- Charles-Louis de Secondat
"The greater the power the more dangerous the abuse." -- Edmund Burke
“The less government does for you, the less government can do to you.” --Senator Jim DeMint
August 4, 2010
Dear Mr. Evenson:
Thank you for contacting me with your thoughts on food safety legislation. Your comments are important to me, and I appreciate hearing from you.
Over the past few years, we have seen outbreaks from contaminated pistachios, peanut butter, spinach, and peppers. These incidents highlight the need to reexamine our food safety laws and procedures in order to ensure that we maintain a food supply with the highest quality safety standards. That is why I am cosponsoring the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), Richard Burr (R-NC), Judd Gregg (R-NH), and the late Ted Kennedy (D-MA).
Our legislation would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new authorities, tools and resources to comprehensively reform the nation's food safety systems. Under this bill, food processing facilities would be required to adopt preventive plans to address food safety, the FDA would gain access to records in a food emergency, new requirements would be put in place for high-risk foods, and the FDA would be granted new authority to deny the importation of a food that lacks certification or is from a foreign facility that has refused access to U.S. inspectors.
I know some constituents have written with concerns regarding this bill's impact on organic farming. This Senate bill does not address any issues relating to organic farming, seed banking, or back yard farming. In fact, in the 2008 Farm Bill, I supported provisions that expand farmers markets, help more farmers attain organic certification, and put more locally grown fruits and vegetables in school lunches. These measures, which became public law in June 2008 include $22 million for the National Organic Cost-Share Program, $33 million for the Farmers Market Promotion Program, and $1 billion for the Fruit and Vegetable Program to provide locally grown fruits and vegetables to schools in all 50 states.
As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I will continue to investigate ways in which to improve our food safety laws and regulations in order to ensure we have a safe, abundant, and affordable food supply and I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind when the Senate considers relevant legislation.
Again, thank you for taking the time to write to me. One of the most important parts of my job is listening to what the people of Minnesota have to say to me. I am here in our nation's capital to do the public's business and to serve the people of our state. With that in mind, please do not hesitate to contact me again about matters of concern to you.
Sincerely,
Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator
** To further illustrate my point there is this > Feds admit storing checkpoint body scan images: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20012583-281.html
2 comments:
Love this:
"Over the past few years, we have seen outbreaks from contaminated pistachios, peanut butter, spinach, and peppers. These incidents highlight the need to reexamine our food safety laws and procedures in order to ensure that we maintain a food supply with the highest quality safety standards."
Um no..what these incidents highlight is a grotesque inability for the Federal Government's current flurry of regulatory apparatuses to do what the hell it is they were initially designed and intended to do! And yet here we go again....
Government fucks it up and thus government needs ever more power to prevent the fuck up from reoccuring.
Having worked in the food industry myself health inspections are a joke. If an inspector wants to pass you they will. If they have it in for you they'll find a booger on the wall. Now in NYC inspections aren't enough, eateries are now required to prominently post a grade (A,B or C) saying hey clean their establishment is. Good blog soap.
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