Missouri teen murders neighbor child in cold blood after an increase in Prozac dosage

Now-18-year-old Alyssa Bustamante of St. Martins, Mo., recently apologized before a court for viciously murdering then-nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten, her neighbor, back in 2009 simply for the thrill of it. According to reports, Bustamante, who regularly attended a Mormon…

Ohio cops tased mentally handicapped teenager with speech impediment for ‘disrespect’

(NaturalNews) The mother of a 17-year-old handicapped child is pressing charges against two head police officers, as well as the city of Dayton, Oh., after the two cops tased, pepper sprayed, and beat the disabled boy without cause. According to a report from Courthouse News Service (CNS), Officer Willie Hooper and Officer John Howard of the Dayton Police Department (DPD) allegedly mistook Jesse Kersey’s speech impediment for “disrespect,” and tracked the boy all the way home from where they first encountered him, and proceeded to brutalize the boy with all sorts of inappropriate assault tactics prior to finally arresting him. The report explains that Officer Hooper first stopped Jesse for an unknown reason while the boy was riding his bicycle, and proceeded to try to speak with him. Jesse, who was having difficulty trying to converse with the officer, decided to ride home and get his mother to help him communicate with the man. Hooper then followed the boy home along with Officer Howard, and before Jesse could even make it in the door, the two officers tased the young boy. Jesse’s mom, Pamela, stated that “[p]rior to the incident … Hooper knew Jesse was mentally challenged / handicapped and a minor child.” And a neighbor who witnessed the chase as Jesse was trying to return home also came out and tried to tell the cops that the boy was mentally challenged, only to be told to “go back into his home, or he would be arrested.” As Jesse finally made it through the doorway after being tased, the cops followed him inside and began to shoot pepper spray at him. Officer Howard then “struck Jesse with a closed fist in the upper chest area … and repeatedly struck Jesse in the upper left side of his left thigh.” And while all of this was occurring, roughly 20 more officers from various jurisdictions also arrived on the site. At no time during this outrageous abuse of police power did any officer ever attempt to communicate with either Jesse, his mother, the neighbor, or anyone else about Jesse’s condition, or even about why he was being pursued in the first place. Instead, they brutally abused the boy without cause, and are now facing charges of false imprisonment, false arrest, malicious prosecution, assault, battery, excessive use of force, infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. Cases of extreme abuse by police such as this one are escalating, illustrating a truly out-of-control American police state. To harass and physically abuse a boy with a mental condition, and provide absolutely no justification for doing so, is an absolutely heinous demonstration of cold-hearted tyranny. Both officers must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for their unlawful actions, and neither one can be allowed to remain on the DPD police force. You can read the entire CNS account of the incident here: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/06/29/37770.htm You can also view the legal filing here: http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/06/29/Tasered.pdf To contact the Chief’s Office of the Dayton Police Department to express your thoughts, call (937) 333-1080.

Feds order farmer to destroy his own wheat crops: The shocking revelations of Wickard vs Filburn

(NaturalNews) In arguing for S.510, the “Food Safety Modernization Act,” there are all sorts of attorneys, legislators and internet commentators who keep claiming, “The government won’t try to control the food production of small farms.” They say, “Your backyard garden is safe” and that the feds won’t come knocking on your door to control your seeds or foods. As usual, these pushers of Big Government are utterly ignorant of the history in their own country. Because as you’ll learn right here, not only CAN the U.S. government control and dictate to single-family farms what they can grow in their own backyards; the government has already blatantly done so! In this article, I’ll share with you the full and true story of how Big Government has already run rampant over the rights of individuals to grow their own food — I’ll even cite the US Supreme Court decision that “legalized” this tyranny. How the tyrants came after a farmer named Roscoe Filburn It all starts with a farmer named Roscoe Filburn, a modest farmer who grew wheat in his own back yard in order to feed his chickens. One day, a U.S. government official showed up at his farm. Noting that Filburn was growing a lot of wheat, this government official determined that Filburn was growing too much wheat and ordered Filburn to destroy his wheat crops and pay a large fine to the federal government. The year was 1940, you see. And through a highly protectionist policy, the federal government had decided to artificially drive up the prices of wheat by limiting the amount of wheat that could be grown on any given acre. This is all part of Big Government’s “infinite wisdom” of trying to somehow improve prosperity by destroying food and impairing economic productivity. (Be wary any time the government says it’s going to “solve problems” for you.) The federal government, of course, claims authority over all commerce (even when such claims are blatantly in violation of the limitations placed upon government by the Constitution). But Roscoe Filburn wasn’t selling his wheat to anyone. Thus, he was not engaged in interstate commerce. He wasn’t growing wheat as something to use for commerce at all, in fact. He was simply growing wheat in his back yard and feeding it to his chickens. That’s not commerce. That’s just growing your own food . But get this: The government insisted he pay a fine and destroy his wheat, so Filburn took the government to court, arguing that the federal government had no right to tell a man to destroy his food crops just because they wanted to protect some sort of artificially high prices in the wheat market. This case eventually went to the US Supreme Court. It’s now known as Wickard v. Filburn , and it is one of the most famous US Supreme Court decisions ever rendered because it represents a gross expansion of the tyranny of the federal government . The US Supreme Court sided with government tyranny The US Supreme Court, you see, ruled that Roscoe Filburn’s wheat could be regulated and destroyed by the federal government simply because Roscoe’s wheat production might reduce the amount of wheat he bought from other wheat producers and therefore could impact interstate trade. Now stay with me on this, because this is a really, really important point to understand. The federal government claimed authority under the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution (Article 1, Section 8), even though the Commerce Clause was originally written primarily to prevent states from erecting tariffs, not to allow the federal government to control interstate trade. But thanks to the twisted interpretation of the government — and believe me, the government will twist every interpretation it can in an effort to assert more power over the population — the feds claimed that Filburn’s growing of his own wheat effectively reduced interstate commerce in wheat. Therefore, they reasoned, they could regulate his backyard wheat production (and order him to destroy his wheat). Because of this US Supreme Court decision in 1942, it now means the federal government can order you to halt food production in your own back yard by arguing that when you grow your own food, the amount of food you purchase from other food providers is reduced, meaning that your food production impacts interstate trade and therefore can be fully controlled by the federal government. In other words, the federal government claims the authority right now — even without the Food Safety Modernization Act — to knock on your door and order you at gunpoint to destroy all the food in your garden, your greenhouse or your farm. They can order you to destroy all seeds in your possession and all food harvested from your own garden. And they can do all this with the full protection of U.S. law by simply citing the precedent set in Wickard v. Filburn in 1942 as ruled by the US Supreme Court. Why the naysayers will probably starve Still think you have the right to grow your own food? I’ve heard all sorts of naysayers claiming that S.510 — the Food Safety Modernization Act — is no threat to small growers and family farms. They say the fears about S.510 are overblown and that the government can’t possibly shut down your backyard gardens or small, local vegetable farms. They say this with the kind of smug certainty you might typically hear from a doctor who thinks he knows everything about human health (but who actually knows nothing about nutrition). These naysayers tend to operate out of an assumption that Big Government will never take away their rights and freedoms and that expanding the reach of agencies such as the TSA, FDA, DEA and FTC with even more power and more armed agents is a good thing because the government always takes care of the people. We need more protection from e.coli, they argue, so let’s unleash 4,000 armed FDA agents instead to protect us from bacteria. (But who will protect us from the FDA?) What these ignorant naysayers don’t understand is that government is constantly trying to expand its power to the point of tyranny. As a current example of this, look at what just happened with Chavez in Venezuela. He has now been granted what are essentially dictatorial powers over the country (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/18/AR2010121802933.html). Chavez is now the King of Venezuela, and whatever he says is now law. Venezuelan citizens are now slaves to his tyranny, and they must follow his orders or be executed. The United States is moving in precisely the same direction. First, power gets stripped away from the People little by little. Then it gets concentrated in the hands of a few regulatory agencies who write their own laws and who stay in power year after year because none of their officials are elected. (Think the FDA commissioner is elected by the people? Think again…) And then, over time, a few powerful individuals concentrate power from those agencies into their own hands. Before long, the country is run by a handful of power-crazed tyrants who disregard all freedoms and rights of the People. This is precisely what the FDA is doing with the Food Safety Modernization Act. Backed by yet more funding and a new army of agents, plus the Supreme Court ruling that says the federal government can order you to destroy the food you’re growing in your own back yard, the FDA can now pillage the countryside , going from farm to farm and house to house, burning fields and ordering the citizenry to destroy their plants, seeds and crops. This is exactly what they’ve been doing to raw milk producers and food coops, by the way (http://www.naturalnews.com/030136_Rawesome_foods_raid.html). That is no exaggeration. It is a documented “legal” precedent established in Wickard vs Filburn, and it can be used at any moment to destroy the ability of people to grow their own food, thereby making these people totally dependent on dead processed food (which is always FDA approved if it’s dead, of course) made in food factories that churn out nutritional deficiencies and death. What will you eat when the government destroys your local food supply? You see, under the argument that your backyard garden “impacts interstate commerce,” the federal government can order you to simply spray Roundup on your entire garden in order to kill it. What will you eat then? When the GMO crops suffer a mass catastrophic failure, and the monocultured wheat dies from a global viral infection called ug99 “rust” (http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/archives/ug99-will-wheat-rust-cause-a-catastrophic-global-famine), what will you eat? If the government has its way, you won’t eat at all. You’ll starve to death under the “protection” of the food safety thugs at the FDA who don’t believe any “live” food is safe in the first place (hence their war against raw milk). Those people who have the foresight to grow their own gardens and protect their food sources from the tyranny of the federal government may actually have a chance at surviving. The rest will simply starve while waiting in government food lines where the feds hand out nutritionally worthless cheese and other depleted processed foods that Sesame Street absurdly thinks are “superfoods” (http://www.naturalnews.com/030626_muppets_Sesame_Street.html). Big Government declares war on the local food movement Make no mistake, folks: the government is attempting to destroy the local food movement . They are trying to wipe out small, organic farms that compete with corporate agribiz in the same way the FDA has long plotted to destroy natural health supplement companies who compete with Big Pharma. It’s all about wiping out the little guys and protecting the monopoly markets of the largest and most influential corporations that are poisoning the earth and destroying your health. As Wickard vs Filburn clearly demonstrated, the government does not believe you have any natural right or Constitutional right to grow your own food . In fact, the government believes it has the right to order you to destroy your food at the time of its choosing. Don’t think this could happen to you? Filburn didn’t either. The idea that his own government would show up at his door and order him to burn his field of wheat was simply unimaginable. Similarly, the idea that the FDA would tear across the countryside wiping out small family farms is unimaginable to many Americans today. But that’s only because they don’t know their own history and they put far too much faith in the flimsy idea that the government somehow, in some way, respects the rights and freedoms of the People. The obvious falsehood of that idea is evident in the way we are all being treated by the TSA. Who would have thought, just two years ago, that we’d be subjected to government-enforced molestation at the hands of airport security screeners? That idea seems unthinkable at the time, much like the idea that the FDA could seize your garden seeds or order you to destroy your greenhouse crops. Yet such actions are already within the claimed power of the federal government… merely waiting to be invoked at the time of their choosing. Traitors to freedom All those who voted for S.510 — which includes the entire U.S. Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike — are traitors to the freedoms upon which America was founded. They have thrust our food supply into the hands of tyrants who are just waiting to exercise their control and “authority” over as many people as possible. Five years ago, I joked that people might one day be arrested for smuggling broccoli across state lines. Today, that joke has become a sad reality. The mere act of growing food and selling it to your neighbor without government permission is about to become a criminal act. And no, small farms are not “exempt” from S.510. They must provide financial information and apply to the FDA to be granted exemption status. That sounds a lot like slaves begging for mercy from the king, doesn’t it? Keep the big picture in mind as you consider all this: When teens are poisoned by the aspartame in diet soda, the FDA does nothing. When children are given cancer by the sodium nitrite in hot dogs, the FDA does nothing. When countless thousands of Americans suffer heart attacks and cardiovascular disease each year from the partially-hydrogenated oils used throughout the food supply, the FDA does nothing. But when you grow fresh produce in your own back yard and carry it to your local farmer’s market to sell it without government permission, you will be arrested by the FDA as a criminal . Shame on all those who supported this bill. May history have mercy on their souls for the suffering and injustices they have unleashed upon us all .

Top ten things to love about Vilcabamba Ecuador, the Valley of Longevity

(NaturalNews) If you love perfect year-round weather and enjoying your own locally-grown foods, you’ll love Vilcabamba, Ecuador. I lived there, on and off, for over two years, and in that time I came to know many of the people, places and cultural highlights of Vilcabamba. In this story, I’ll share with you some of the best of Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where you can visit as a tourist or find a home to live the good life for pennies on the dollar! Here’s what I like most about Vilcabamba, Ecuador: #1) Amazingly nice locals As my Spanish ability improved with practice, I made many friends with the local Vilcabamba people. They are exceedingly nice, polite and very friendly to visitors. They even have an unusual knack for understanding the really bad Spanish spoken by many visitors, and they go out of their way to try to communicate with you in simple words that you’ll easily understand. Most of the really good friends I made in Vilcabamba were locals, and we would spend hours chatting about various things: The climate, gardening, horses, tourist activity, politics, health and much more. #2) Ridiculously good climate The climate in Vilcabamba just can’t be beat: It’s absolutely perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. Not too dry, not too wet. The air is crisp and clean, and the temperature is so perfect that they don’t even build homes with air conditioning or heating units. I’ve traveled the world and the closest I’ve ever come to the perfection of this climate is the Big Island of Hawaii. But land on the Big Island can cost anywhere from 20 to 100 times the cost of similar land in Vilcabamba. #3) Papaya’s Cafe If you visit Vilcabamba, you’ve got to visit Papaya’s Cafe . Launched earlier this year by an American named Carey, Papaya’s Cafe became an instant hit with both the locals and the foreigners living in the Valley of Longevity. The cafe serves up a variety of menu items, both from the realm of health-conscious eating (they sometimes host raw food dinners) and local Ecuadorian cuisine. The decor and ambiance of the restaurant is outstanding, and the view from the second floor is quite breathtaking. You can hang out in Papaya’s Cafe for hours, chatting with friends and living the good life while enjoying smoothies, desserts, main courses and much more! Papaya’s Cafe is located adjacent to the Vilcabamba bus terminal, on the North side of the street. Just ask anyone in town to point you in the direction of either the cafe or the bus terminal. It’s easy to find. #4) Very low cost of living The cost of living in Vilcabamba, Ecuador is surprisingly low, even if you’re hiring a lot of help. A typical garden worker makes from $10 – $15 per day, and locals are always looking for more work. (I frequently had people stop by my house asking for more work.) To help create our amazing food forest ranch on 20 acres, I hired as many as 3 grounds workers, plus a house helper who would prepare raw food smoothies and keep the house clean for us. The total cost of these four people was significantly less than one full-time helper working in the U.S. If you want to see what we accomplished with the food forest, see the photos of my ranch at: http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-of-Longevity-Property.html #5) Madre Tierra The most amazing resort in the Valley of Longevity is Madre Tierra (“Mother Earth”), a beautifully constructed resort with a spa, restaurant, water pools, and an assortment of other natural features. Madre Tierra offers an incredible value as a really nice place to stay in the valley. It’s just outside of town: Far enough away to avoid the party noise on Friday and Saturday nights, yet close enough to walk to town in about 15 minutes (or you can take a short taxi ride). Check out their website or make reservations at www.VilcabambaMadreTierra.com The resort is under new ownership as of one month ago, and I personally know the new owners. They’re really dedicated to updating and improving the resort to meet western standards. They’ve already enhanced many of the rooms, and they’re working on remodeling the kitchen to improve it as well. If you visit the kitchen, say hello to Lolita (one of the cooks), as I’ve known her for several years and she’s a really friendly lady who makes some wonderful Ecuadorian dishes. She makes an amazing (yet simple) dessert with egg whites and fresh Maracuya fruit! #6) Tourist activities There are a great number of fun and exciting tourist activities in Vilcabamba. The first is horseback riding , where you can take adventures into the Podocarpus National Forest (see below), or up to the sacred mountain of Mandango (the sleeping Inca) on horseback. There are several horseback riding tour organizers in town, and I don’t know them all, but here are two that I personally know and trust: • Angel. He’s a long-time resident of Vilcabamba who is extremely nice, humorous and highly skilled in the outback. His front door, which is a carved mural of horses, is located just 1-2 blocks North of the main town square (downhill from the town square). Just ask anyone for “Angel” and mention horses (“caballos”), and they’ll point you in his direction. • Holger is another horse tour guide, and he’s really fun to ride with. He’s a super nice person who really cares for animals and the environment. He has a cool temperament and solid knowledge of all the paths and roads throughout a wide-ranging area around the valley. His shop is located just one block East of the NE corner of the main square. Ask anyone for “Holger the horse guy” and they’ll point you in the right direction. (The photo at the top of this story is a picture of Holger and one of his horses, which usually grazes on the grass in front of my house.) Bicycle tours: There are also some great bicycle tours around Vilcabamba, including combination bicycling / walking tours to some amazing waterfalls! The bike tour guy in town is called “El Chino” (that’s his nickname), and he’s located 2 blocks East of the NE corner of the main square, right across from Maria’s shop (which sells fresh fruits, avocados and sometimes even organic tomatoes). Once again, just ask anyone for “El Chino” and mention bicycles (“bicicletas”) and they will point you in the right direction. There are many other tourist activities in Vilcabamba as well, including a hummingbird garden to the South, a botanical garden in Loja, the cacao-growing town of Zamora to the Northeast, and the Sunday market at Malacatos to the North. There are plenty of taxi drivers to get you from place to place (look for the white pickup trucks; they’re the taxis), and many of the drivers can now speak English. In fact, lots of the people in Vilcabamba have been learning to speak more English over the last two years. Be sure to also check out the nice restaurants located around the town square. You’ll find a selection of restaurants (including a French cafe), internet cafes and tourist shops. If you’re there on a Saturday, you’ll often find crafts for sale under tents set up along the sidewalk. It’s a fun time! #7) Podocarpus National Forest The Podocarpus National Forest is one of the natural treasures of Ecuador. Check out the photos from my own tour of the forest right here: http://www.naturalnews.com/phototours/podocarpus-vilcabamba-ecuador-tour/index.html Here’s one of the more amazing photos of the scenery you’ll experience there: http://www.naturalnews.com/phototours/podocarpus-vilcabamba-ecuador-tour/content/IMG_1185_large.html Read my description of our adventure into Podocarpus in this story: http://www.naturalnews.com/028997_Podocarpus_Vilcabamba.html Podocarpus is an immense and deeply diverse biological preserve that stretches from the edge of the Valley of Longevity all the way to Peru. It is an extraordinary forest with so many unique and fascinating life forms that scientists come here from all over the world to study it. I only took a short adventure into Podocarpus, and even then I got to see numerous waterfalls, lush rainforest trails, bizarre and unique plant life covering the tops of the mountain ridges, and much more. It was truly an amazing experience, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to catch a glimpse of the natural beauty that Mother Nature has to offer. By the way, you can hire the horse guides I mentioned above to take you into the Podocarpus National Forest. They’ll arrange anything from a 1-day trip to a 7-day tour, if you like! #8) Food everywhere! Food production in the Valley of Longevity is so easy and abundant that it’s almost hard to believe. In mere weeks , you can grow a huge garden full of vegetables from the rich topsoil. In a few months , you can grow endless papayas, figs, babacos and berries. In a few years , you can have your own orchard of oranges, macadamia nuts, jungle almonds, noni fruit, avocados and much more. (I’ve got all those in my orchard of over 100 fruit and nut trees…) And if you don’t want to grow anything at all, you can just start juicing the grass as we have been doing for several months. The field grass mixes extremely well with pineapple juice to make a delicious, refreshing raw living juice right from the fields. (And there’s grass everywhere in the valley.) The amazing food production capability in the Valley of Longevity is what makes Vilcabamba a destination of choice for many people concerned about preparedness and the world food supply. In Vilcabamba (and in Hacienda San Joaquin in particular, which has some of the best soils in the whole valley), you can grow a year-round food supply that will easily outlast any disruptions or interruptions that might impact the cities of western nations. #9) Affordable homes and properties Vilcabamba offers a wonderful place to live for those looking for homes or land in South America. Prices are relatively affordable compared to anywhere in North America or Europe, and there are some very nice properties available right now, in many different price ranges. The best location for living in Ecuador, in my opinion, is Hacienda San Joaquin , a 500+ acre ranch that is now a gated community where many people from all over the world have built homes and are growing a considerable amount of food on their land. This is where I’ve been living on and off for the last two years, growing my food forest. Because I now have a much greater need for privacy than I first realized, my “preparedness paradise” ranch is available for a new family. It’s a six-figure price range. Check out the amazing photos at http://www.naturalnews.com/Valley-of-Longevity-Property.html For those looking for something more on the high end, there’s a gorgeous estate property available on the same ranch, just down the road from my own property, that’s selling in the seven figures. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com and we’ll send you the link to the photos and description for that property. It has its own indoor swimming pool, volleyball courts, tennis court, private orchards, horse fields and a whole lot more. If you’re looking for something on the more affordable side, my neighbor Matt has some land available right across the street from my own ranch. They’ve got something like 2.5 acres of good land available in the five figure range. Email us at vilcaland@gmail.com for more details. If you’re looking for something outside the Hacienda San Joaquin gated community, simply contact the Vilcabamba Real Estate Company (VREC), which is the local real estate company I recommend: Nick Vasey, nick@vrec.org or visit www.VREC.org for information. They have a lot of property listings for land and homes around the valley. Remember when buying real estate in Vilcabamba that land is cheap if it has no roads, no electricity, no internet, no water and no access. But land that’s actually usable for living or growing things needs support infrastructure, and that’s what ultimately costs more money. You can get land dirt cheap if it’s out in the middle of nowhere and has no roads. Some properties are literally only accessible by horseback… #10) Freedom from electromagnetic pollution, chemtrails, air pollution, water pollution Vilcabamba, Ecuador is remarkably free from most kinds of pollution: Electromagnetic, air and water. On the electromagnetic spectrum, Vilcabamba has only one cell tower, and the electro “vibe” of the valley is relatively clean and pristine. No planes fly overhead dropping chemtrails on the population, either. (So you can breathe a sigh of relief…) The ground water is amazingly clean because it’s recharged from rainfall on the nearby Podocarpus National Forest, where water flows down into the valley on a regular basis. It creates a unique situation where you have lots of sunshine hitting the valley, but you also have a very large water supply from the nearby mountains, so you have both full sunshine and lots of water (two things that normally don’t exist together in the same exact geographic region). The air in the Valley of Longevity is also strikingly clean. It has even been studied by scientists in an effort to determine whether some special property in the air encourages greater longevity. Personally, I think the longevity factor is more about eating lots of local foods and spending a lot of time outdoors walking, working or playing. Come visit Vilcabamba! Whether you just enjoy the natural beauty or you’re looking for a place to live in a “preparedness paradise” with abundant food, Vilcabamba has a tremendous amount to offer. Come check it out! Some travel tips: • Quito is the capitol of Ecuador. That’s where you’ll fly to. Quito is located south of Florida, almost to the equator. • Continental Airlines flies from Houston to Quito (roughly 4.5 hours). LAN Airlines flies from Miami to Quito. • From Quito, you fly TAME Airlines (the local Ecuadorian airline) which offers some very nice Embraer jets on routes between Quito and Loja. From Loja, it’s a 90-minute taxi ride to the Valley of Longevity. Once in Vilcabamba, you can stay at Madre Tierra, Hosteria de Vilcabamba, Hosteria Izhcayluma, or other available places. There are usually plenty of rooms available except during celebration events when the whole town sells out! If you’re coming to look at property, Nick at www.VREC.org can help you organize transportation. Joe’s staff at Hacienda San Joaquin (www.VilcabambaHomes.com) can also assist with that effort if you’re coming to look at properties on the Hacienda (where my ranch is located). There are also a few unsold lots at Hacienda San Joaquin that might interest you if you prefer to live in a gated community. Enjoy your trip and take lots of great pictures!

Raw milk battle reveals FDA abandonment of basic human right to choose your food

(NaturalNews) The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF), an organization whose mission includes “defending the rights and broadening the freedoms of family farms and protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient dense foods”, recently filed a lawsuit against the FDA for its ban on interstate sales of raw milk. The suit alleges that such a restriction is a direct violation of the United States Constitution. Nevertheless, the suit led to a surprisingly cold response from the FDA about its views on food freedom (and freedoms in general). In a dismissal notice issued to the Iowa District Court where the suit was filed , the FDA officially made public its views on health and food freedom. These views will shock you, but they reveal the true evil intent of the FDA and why it is truly a rogue federal agency. The FDA essentially believes that nobody has the right to choose what to eat or drink. You are only “allowed” to eat or drink what the FDA gives you permission to. There is no inherent right or God-given right to consume any foods from nature without the FDA’s consent. This is no exaggeration. It’s exactly what the FDA said in its own words. You have no natural right to food The FTCLDF highlighted a few of the key phrases from the FDA’s response document in a recent email to its supporters. They include the following two statements from the FDA: “There is no ‘deeply rooted’ historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds.” [p. 26] “Plaintiffs’ assertion of a ‘fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families’ is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.” [p.26] There’s a lot more in the document, which primarily addresses the raw milk issue, but these statements alone clearly reveal how the FDA views the concept of health freedom. Essentially, the FDA does not believe in health freedom at all . It believes that it is the only entity granted the authority to decide for you what you are able to eat and drink. The State , in other words, may override your food decisions and deny you free access to the foods and beverages you wish to consume. And the State may do this for completely unscientific reasons — even just political reasons — all at their whim. This has all emerged from the debate over whether raw milk sales should be legal. But the commonsense answer seems obvious: Of course raw milk should be legal! Since when did the government have any right to criminalize a farmer milking his cow and selling the raw, unpasteurized milk to his neighbor at a mutually-agreeable price? The U.S. government’s secret agenda to eliminate raw milk Raw milk has been in the spotlight recently as defenders of the food are constantly battling with state and federal authorities over the freedom to buy and sell it. At the national level, the FDA has been on a ruthless crusade to eliminate all sales of raw milk everywhere. Lately, the agency seems to have shifted its tactics from attacking raw milk dairy farmers directly to going after raw milk “buying clubs” and “cow-share” programs, which effectively bypass the draconian laws in many states by establishing private contracts between individuals. In a cow-share program, you buy a share of the cow’s produced milk, and you pay a cost of the cow’s upkeep. It’s sort of like CSA shares for farm veggies, but with cow’s milk instead of veggies. This arrangement drives the FDA absolutely batty because it bypasses their authority and allows free people to engage in the free sales of raw dairy products produced on small family farms. But why is the FDA hell-bent on stopping raw milk from being sold in the first place? Think about it: What is it about this particular whole food that has regulators working overtime to make sure you don’t drink it? It certainly has nothing to do with food safety, as the FDA commonly claims is its reason for opposing it. Raw milk’s track record of safety is phenomenal, and all legitimate studies indicate that it’s actually less prone to harbor harmful bacteria than the pasteurized stuff (which is all dead, modified milk anyway). According to a Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) report , between 1980 and 2005, there were ten times more illnesses from pasteurized milk than there were from raw milk. And most of the reports that link illness outbreaks with raw milk provide little or no evidence that raw milk was even the culprit. But apparently the facts don’t really matter to the FDA (is anyone surprised?) because the agency continues to repeat false talking points about how raw milk is inherently dangerous and that drinking it is “like play Russian Roulette with your health”. Big Dairy behind push to eliminate raw milk The real reason why the FDA opposes raw milk is because Big Dairy opposes raw milk. Just like Big Pharma, Big Dairy has worked very hard behind the scenes to steer FDA policy in its favor. And according to some recent reports , Big Dairy is one of the primary forces trying to eliminate raw milk because it threatens the commercial milk business. Recently in Massachusetts, for example, the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) has been targeting raw milk buying clubs that purchase raw milk from rural dairy farms and have it delivered to urban drop-off points where many of the customers live. Raw milk sales are legal in Massachusetts as long as they are done at the farm, and the state has long tolerated buying clubs, which are convenient for customers and technically perfectly legal. But this situation now seems to have changed. MDAR recently sent cease-and-desist letters to four buying clubs even though there is no Massachusetts law that prohibits their existence. When club members challenged the legitimacy of the warnings, MDAR decided to propose a new regulation to specifically outlaw buying clubs. (They just can’t stand the fact that people are buying raw milk, can they?) Get this: Scott Soares, a Massachusetts legislator who is friends with the MDAR commissioner, held a preliminary meeting in advance of the May 10th proposal hearing to discuss the matter with interested parties. Fifteen educated and passionate consumers and farmers of raw milk showed up to challenge Soares, who ended up revealing to them that “large dairy producers” had contacted him to push for raw milk restrictions. To make matters worse, it was revealed that Soares failed to follow proper protocol by not opening a docket to keep a record of all interactions relating to the proposal. So not only did Soares reveal that he’s basically bowing to political pressure from Big Dairy by supporting the restrictions, but he’s also violating proper legislative procedure in the process. So what we have here is a classic case of a large and powerful industry pushing government regulators to outlaw competing products so that it can monopolize the market. It’s the same thing that Big Pharma does in getting the FDA to destroy nutritional supplement companies. But now it’s happening with raw milk, too. What’s next? Will all farmer’s markets be outlawed because the veggies haven’t all been irradiated or pasteurized? As usual, it’s all about the money, and as you follow the money trail all the way up to the federal level, you find the same thing happening everywhere: At the FDA, USDA, FTC and so on. U.S. government regulators have become monopoly market enforcers for Big Business , and they won’t let anything get in their way… not even personal health freedoms or just basic access to food. I’m sensing a Ghandi moment coming on here. Somebody is going to have a powerful public demonstration against tyranny by drinking raw milk in the same way that Ghandi led his followers to harvesting salt. People have a natural-born right to real food , and the FDA is violating human rights by attacking producers of raw milk. Unconstitutional position of the FDA It’s not really news to the folks in the natural health community that the FDA opposes personal health freedoms, but according to the FTCLDF, the FDA’s recent response to its lawsuit is one of the agency’s boldest statements yet about how it views health freedom in America. It practically turns the FDA into a dictatorial Gestapo-like agency whose mission is to destroy the U.S. Constitution and deprive people of their natural rights. Not only does the FDA think it has the power to regulate interstate trade; it also thinks it can regulate intrastate trade (which means buying and selling within state borders). In fact, the agency made this very clear on page 6 of its dismissal when it wrote, “It is within HHS’s authority…to institute an intrastate ban [on unpasteurized milk] as well.” This is the FDA trying to run rampant over States’ rights . The federal government, after all, isn’t satisfied to exercise control over the limited powers granted to it by the U.S. Constitution — it wants to overthrow the tenth Amendment and dictate rules, regulations and laws that the states are being forced to follow. This is blatantly unconstitutional. The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids the federal government from intruding on the laws of individual states, and is only allowed to wield powers expressly granted to it by the Constitution (powers granted by the People, in other words). There is no power granted to the federal government to ban the sales of raw milk. I’ve read the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and I never saw it mentioned in there. The very idea, by the way, would have seemed bizarre (and downright stupid) by our nation’s founders, many of whom actually operated farms and drank raw milk themselves. According to the FTCLDF suit, the FDA is clearly operating outside Constitutional authority by forbidding raw milk from being transported across state lines from states where it is legal to sell it. And for the FDA to arrogantly announce that it has the authority to ban intrastate raw milk sales shows just how tyrannical and oppressive the agency has now become. The FDA, bluntly states, has become an enemy of the People . It is taking away the rights that your forefathers granted you. The FDA is destroying what your fathers and grandfathers fought for in World War II. It is attempting to terrorize the raw milk producers of America and run them out of business through a campaign of threats and intimidation. This is the agency that’s supposed to be working for the People? Give me a break… Even private contracts aren’t a fundamental right, according to the FDA But it gets even worse. On page 27 of the dismissal, the FDA also states that Americans do not have a fundamental right to enter into private contractual agreements with one another , either. Huh? Are you kidding me? Buying clubs, cooperatives and community supported agriculture programs (CSAs) all rely on private contractual agreements in order to operate. People contract with each other to obtain clean, healthy food from the sources of their choice without government intrusion. But now the FDA is saying that people don’t actually have this right. To enter into such a private contract to purchase food, milk or even water is a violation of federal law, the FDA now claims. You are just a subject of the King , you see, and you have no rights. You must eat and drink what you are told. You must behave in a way that is allowed by your King. You have no rights, no protections and no freedoms. You are a slave, Neo. The “substantive due process” clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, however, assures people of this right when it states that no person shall “be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” And being able to make personal food choices without having to obtain permission from Big Brother is definitely included under this clause. But the FDA — aw, heck, all of Washington for that matter — doesn’t honor the U.S. Constitution in any way, shape or form. The document is little more than a tattered piece of American history according to the Nazi nut jobs running federal agencies today. They are no more likely to respect the Constitution as they are to leap from their desk job chairs and magically transform into flying elephants. But all hope is not lost… there are things you can do to fight for your freedoms. What you can do to protect food freedom According to David Gumpert from The Complete Patient , raw milk is a proxy issue that really addresses food freedom at large. Whatever is decided about raw milk will set a precedent for everything else. That’s why it’s so important to support raw milk freedom whether you drink milk or not (I don’t drink milk, but I support raw milk freedoms nevertheless). Not only is legalized raw milk beneficial to small, family farmers who are able to maintain livelihoods because of it, it also supports the local food economy. It’s also, by the way, a whole lot healthier than pasteurized milk! On January 28, 2009, Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) introduced HR 778, a bill that would end all federal restrictions on interstate traffic of raw milk. It’s along the same lines as the current lawsuit which challenges the constitutionality of such restrictions in the first place. You can read the entire bill at the following link: (http://www.ftcldf.org/docs/HR_778_Interstate_Traffic_of_unpast_milk_012809.pdf) The FTCLDF has a petition page where you can contact your Congressmen and urge support for HR 778. You can even ask your Senators to cosponsor it. Please support this effort by signing this online petition. Even more urgent than this is the need to express your opposition to a “food safety” bill going before the U.S. Senate called the “FDA Food Safety Modernization Act”. Also known as S. 510, this bill, if passed, will drastically increase the FDA’s power over food and make it very difficult to obtain natural, unprocessed foods of any kind. It would give the FDA completely power to irradiate, fumigate, pasteurize or otherwise destroy every item you consume, from fruits and vegetables to dairy products. Remember how I said that the FDA (wrongly) thinks it has the power to regulate intrastate trade? Well S. 510 would specifically grant the agency this power. The FDA would then have the power to destroy all small, local farming, gardening or dairy operations in your home town , even if your state expressly defends your rights to engage in such activity. Can you imagine a SWAT team of FDA agents showing up at your door because you grew organic broccoli and sold some at the weekend farmer’s market without fumigating it with poisons first? That’s what’s coming to your home town, everywhere across America. S. 510 is the final version of H.R. 2749, which was passed last summer by the House of Representatives. There’s still time to stop it, but we need your help. So please sign the petition linked above. I know sometimes it seems like the politicians aren’t listening, and for the most part that’s true, but a massive outcry against this attempted takeover of food is sure to get their attention and may even force them to back down. You can read all about both bills at the following link: (http://www.ftcldf.org/news/news-foodsafety.htm) You can also contact your Senators by visiting this link: (http://www.opencongress.org/people/senators) Join the Raw Milk Drink-In! The Organic Consumers Association, by the way, is holding a Raw Milk Drink In in Boston today (May 10, 2010). Here’s the announcement from the OCA. Please go join the drink in if you live near Boston! Suzanne the Cow on Boston Common for “Raw Milk Drink In” Raw Milk Enthusiasts Slam Proposed State Ban on Raw Milk Buying Clubs Press Conference Precedes 10 AM Public Hearing at Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources MOOVE OVER CORPORATE COWS! WE WANT PASTURE NOT PASTEURIZED! THE MDAR IS UDDERLY RIDICULOUS! MDAR’S RAW MILK BUYERS’ CLUB BAN IS BULL! MDAR SHOULDN’T COWTOW TO BIG AG! BOSTON – On Monday, May 10, 2010, for perhaps the first time since the park was used, prior to 1830, as a pasture, a cow will graze on Boston Common. The cow is Suzanne, a beautiful pasture-raised Jersey who gives healthy raw milk through Eastleigh Farm in Framingham, MA. The occasion is a gathering of raw milk enthusiasts and dairy farmers who will bring a cow to the Common for a “Raw Milk Drink In” and then gather at the State House for a press conference. The raw milk rally comes as the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) attempts to restrict the delivery of raw milk to thousands of consumers throughout Massachusetts. Earlier this year, the MDAR issued a cease and desist order to four raw milk buying club drivers who were delivering the milk to customers in urban and suburban areas of the state. Who: Raw milk cow, farmers and consumers. What: Photo opportunity with raw milk cow, “Raw Milk Drink In” and press conference. When: 8 am Cow and “Raw Milk Drink-In,” Boston Common 9:20 am Press Conference, State House 10 am Public Hearing, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources 2 pm Cow leaves Boston Common Where: Boston Common – Adjacent to Brewer Fountain, then Statehouse Speakers available for interviews: Doug Stephan , Raw Milk Dairy Farmer, Owner Eastleigh Farm in Framingham, MA, (bringing the cow). David Gumpert , author of The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights. Max Kane , a Wisconsin buying club owner who is currently fighting contempt of court charge brought by the WI Dept of Agriculture for his refusal to reveal his sources of Raw Milk. Mark McAfee , the owner of Organic Pastures Dairy Co., the largest raw dairy in the country, based in California. More Information: Over three million Americans now prefer organic raw milk and raw milk dairy products over pasteurized milk because of its superior nutrition and disease fighting qualities and because it comes from small, local producers who pasture their dairy cows, rather than keeping them confined all day and all year in dairy feedlots on huge, disease-ridden factory farms. There have been no reported cases of raw milk-related illnesses in Massachusetts in over ten years. Alexis Baden-Mayer, Political Director for the Organic Consumers Association says, “We don’t need a ‘new solution.’ Up until this proposed ban, everything has been fine. If there’s any change to Massachusetts regulations, it should be a change to make it easier — not harder — for us to get the healthy organic raw milk and dairy products we want. This law would deny us our right to choose what we eat and drink.” Learn more at www.organicconsumers.org/raw-milk

Mary Aspinwall joins NaturalNews Talk Hour to explore benefits of homeopathy

(NaturalNews) This week the NaturalNews Talk Hour presents Mary Aspinwall, registered Homeopath and best-selling author with an important message about your health. Don’t miss this show — LIVE — Thursday night 6 pm (PST) / 9 pm (EST). Free registration is required. Simply enter your email address in the right hand column of this page and you’ll receive call-in details for the show. Mary has been working as a Classical Homeopath for fifteen years and during that time has helped thousands of people return to health rapidly, gently and permanently. After working in London, Ireland and Spain, Mary relocated to California in 2008. She has lectured internationally at homeopathic colleges and is a frequent contributor to homeopathic journals around the world. “If you’re ill, Mary will make you better. She is intuitive, has great empathy for her fellow man and a great sense of humor. Your healing process will be a wonderful experience. Mary is fabulous.” – Liz Jones, client, Co. Cork, Ireland Homeopathy comes from the Greek and means similar suffering. This refers to the philosophy that a substance that can produce symptoms in a healthy person can cure those symptoms in a sick person. For example, a person suffering from insomnia might be given a homeopathic dose of coffee. Is Homeopathy Safe? YES. Since the substances are given in minute doses unwanted side effects are avoided, making them safe to use even in situations where conventional drugs would be dangerous or inadvisable, for example during pregnancy or when treating infants. Jonathan Landsman, host of the Talk Hour says, “Mary offers a wide variety of treatment options for injuries and acute health conditions. She provides safe, highly-effective ways to improve our physical, emotional and mental health. This show is a must for anyone suffering from illness or negativity.” Homeopathy is a system of medicine which recognizes our uniqueness. We are all individuals with particular strengths and weaknesses, so it isn’t surprising that when we become ill we each react in our own way. Even if we catch the same cold as our neighbor or business associate, our reaction to it may be very different from theirs. This week’s guest: Mary Aspinwall, Registered Homeopath Mary Aspinwall – “Homeopathy , NEW Healthcare Solutions Revealed” Thu. May 6 In 1993, Mary designed a series of homeopathic medicine kits that went on to become a best-seller throughout the world. A percentage of the profits are donated to support homoeopathic charities. Mary’s passion is educating the public on how to successfully use homeopathy for first aid emergencies and acute illnesses. She is the author of “A Basic Guide to Homeopathy” and editor of Stephen Gascoigne’s excellent reference work “The Clinical Medicine Guide.” She is also one of the founding members of a U.S.-based Nationwide and International Referral Service which gives access to high quality, professional homeopathic care for an affordable monthly payment. Homeopathy has taken a wide range of natural substances and carefully recorded the symptoms these substances cause in healthy people. Matching these substances, as closely as possible to the individual and particular symptoms that they are experiencing encourages their own healing energy to return them to optimal health. Mary will reveal the remarkable results of homeopathy during the show. Don’t Miss Out! Learn how to restore your health gently and quickly. Discover safe, effective (inexpensive) treatment options without the fear of harmful side-effects. Start building your own healthy, medicine cabinet today. FREE show registration is required. Simply enter your email address in the registration form on the right column of this page and you’ll receive call-in details for the next show. Space is limited – Register Now!