This new bill, HR 2749 is bad news if you ask me. And its on the fast track to getting passed unless we all speak up against a poorly written legislation that could be severely damaging to our already ailing food safety. It gives the FDA way too much power without reforming any of the inadequacies we’ve seen. Our food supply is being toxified left and right, and these guys haven’t done the right thing for the people again and again. The bill will also significantly diminish existing judicial restraints on actions taken by the agency. What!? There already is ton that needs to be investigated, and now they’re just going to flat out make the organization untouchable on paper?

But most damaging of all, the bill would impose a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme on small farms and local artisanal producers. How are the little guys supposed to be judged by the same criteria of a multi-million dollar processing plant. And why does this legislation seem focused on the little guys, and not these industrial apothecaries ginning up our food supply? Since moving out to the San Francisco Bay Area in ’06, I’ve gotten really into the farmer market scene, something that I kind of used to laugh off when I lived in New York. Organic this and that didn’t really make sense to me until I started reading about all the flat out toxic crap in our food supply.

FoodFreedom Reports:

“HR 2749 does not address underlying causes of food safety problems such as industrial agriculture practices and the consolidation of our food supply. The industrial food system and food imports are badly in need of effective regulation, but the bill does not specifically direct regulation or resources to these areas.

HR 2749 would impose an annual registration fee of $500 on any “facility” that holds, processes, or manufactures food. [isn't this every home in the US, every garden?] Although “farms” are exempt, the agency has defined “farm” narrowly. [What is the definition?] And people making foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, cheeses, or breads would be required to register and pay the fee, which could drive beginning and small producers out of business during difficult economic times.
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to regulate how crops are raised and harvested. It puts the federal government right on the farm, dictating to our farmers. [This astounding control opens the door to CODEX. WTO "good farming practices" will include the elimination of organic farming by eliminating manure, mandating GMO animal feed, imposing animal drugs, and ordering applications of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers, thus, will be locked not only into the industrialization of once normal and organic farms but into the forced purchase of industry's products. They will be slaves on the land, doing the work they are ordered to do - against their own best wisdom - and paying out to industry against their will.
* HR 2749 would give FDA the power to order a quarantine of a geographic area, including “prohibiting or restricting the movement of food or of any vehicle being used or that has been used to transport or hold such food within the geographic area.” [This - "that has been used to transport or hold such food" - would mean all cars that have ever brought groceries home so this means ALL TRANSPORTATION can be shut down under this. This is using food as a cover for martial law.] Under this provision, farmers markets and local food sources could be shut down, even if they are not the source of the contamination. The agency can halt all movement of all food in a geographic area. [This is also a means of total control over the population under the cover of food, and at any time.]
* HR 2749 would empower FDA to make random warrantless searches of the business records of small farmers and local food producers, without any evidence whatsoever that there has been a violation. [If these bills cover all who "hold food" then this allows for taking of records of anyone at any time on no basis at all.] Even farmers selling direct to consumers would have to provide the federal government with records on where they buy supplies, how they raise their crops, and a list of customers.
* HR 2749 charges the Secretary of Health and Human Services with establishing a tracing system for food. Each “person who produces, manufactures, processes, packs, transports, or holds such food” [Is this not every home in the US?] would have to “maintain the full pedigree of the origin and previous distribution history of the food,” and “establish and maintain a system for tracing the food that is interoperable with the systems established and maintained by other such persons.” The bill does not explain how far the traceback will extend or how it will be done for multi-ingredient foods. With all these ambiguities, [with all these ambiguities, it is dangerous, period, separate from the money] it’s far from clear how much it will cost either the farmers or the taxpayers. [It is massive and absurd and burdensome beyond the capacity of people to comply - is this not fascism? - so it is a set up for being used to impose penalties endlessly and/or to eliminate anyone at will.]
* HR 2749 creates severe criminal and civil penalties, including prison terms of up to 10 years and/or fines of up to $100,000 for each violation for individuals. [Does it include judicial review, Congressional oversight, a defined and limited set of penalties and punishments for a defined set of “crimes”? Or is it entirely ambiguous and left to the whim and sole power of “the Administrator”? Who is that person set to be? Is it Michael Taylor, Monsanto lawyer and executive, as Food Democracy has said? That is, do these bills set up an agency by which the entire US food supply will be turned over to the control of a multinational corporation under WTO regulations (and not to US farmers and not to US laws under the Constitution), with boundless freedom to do what it wants, and one infamous for harm to farmers and lack of safety of food?
Actions to Take:

Contact your Representative now! Ask to speak with the staffer who handles food issues. Tell them you are opposed to the bill. Some points to make in telling your Representative why you oppose HR 2749 include:

1. The bill imposes burdensome requirements while not specifically targeting the industrial food system and food imports, where the real food safety problems lie.

2. Small farms and local food processors are part of the solution to food safety; lessening the regulatory burden on them will improve food safety.

3. The bill gives FDA much more power than it has had in the past while making the agency less accountable for its actions.

HR 2749 needs to be defeated!! Please take action NOW.

To contact your Representative, use the finder tool at www.Congress.org or send a message through the petition system (the petition will be on our website this evening) at http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions_new.htm. Or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

To check the status of HR 2749, go to www.Thomas.gov and type “HR 2749″ in the bill search field."

“Almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.”~ Washington Post.

Mercury causes brain damage. I kind of figured somebody was saying something bad about corn syrup since all those adds saying how it was good for you and natural popped up. The FDA is a joke, and to prove it to yourself, here’s an experiment you can do at home:

“”Even at low levels methylmercury can harm the developing brain. The last thing we should intentionally do is add to it,” Wallinga added, in an MSNBC article also covering the story. I think we’ve seen the gutting of the FDA under the Bush administration, and we’re suffering the consequences. We should not be worrying about poison in our soda, salmonella in our tomatoes and spinach, and hormones in our milk.

Our way of creating, and safeguarding our food supply is changing dramatically day by day. Companies like Monsanto are now patenting living organisms, like the corn they are being forced to grow in Iraq. Monsanto, also an Obama supporter, has been destroying farmers around the world with their mutant GMO seed. Did you realize that you’ve probably already eaten Gentically modified food? Did you know they’re pushing hard just to get labels on beef from a GMO cow? I’ve got a container of organic milk in the fridge bragging right on the front label how there’s no cloned cow milk in it!

There is a lot to look into. But we all have a responsibility to ourselves, and our families to get involved in this issue. New laws are being written that hurt our agriculture, not help it. You can do something about it! Get in contact with your local representatives. I know we’re about to start knowing these guys on a first name basis, we have to contact them about so much stuff, but that’s what they’re there for!

Rockstar Energy Drink Wants You to “Get AIDS and Die”

Watch the video here:

Queers United and other media reported on this last year, and now there is a petition circulating the internet boycotting the brand:

The brand is owned by Michael Savage and his son.  Savage Sr. (originally named Weiner) is homophobic racist zenophobe radio ’personality’ whose show Savage Nation has a vast audience similar to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Strangely enough, Savage is also an expert on herbal remedies, Jewish, and an activist on animal rights and the environment.

His son, Russ Weiner, is CEO of Rockstar, a founder of the Paul Revere Society, and once addressed a concert-going crowd with, “Who’s heterosexual and proud?!  If you aren’t, hopefully you will be soon!”

Top 10 Un-Awesome Things Rockstar Energy Drink founder Savage has said, in his own words:

Looking for an alternative?

Lesbians like me drink GoGirl… they donate to breast and ovarian cancer research and awareness!

GoGirl energy drinks are also sugar free.

A few months ago, I discovered Bliss Monkey Studio on Etsy.

Their hand made coffee cozies had me at first click, because not only are their cozies completely adorable, they are reusable!

The lesbian artist and crafts woman responsible for my eye’s delight is Alysse Hennessey (Aly The Red). After years of creating custom furnishings and sewing costumes for theater Aly decided to start her own business.

From her charming studio in Eugene, Oregon Aly creates playful goodies like coffee cozies, market bags, wrist warmers, ornaments, and plush monsters using vintage and re-purposed fabrics and eco-friendly inks. On the weekend she can be found at indie craft fairs and markets all over . Check Bliss Monkey Studio’s Etsy Shop and support a lesbian artist while saving the planet, one less paper cup sleeve at a time.