Regulations Galore: Bureaucrats and Other Pesky Critters

Today’s post comes from Michael Patrick McCarty from The Backyard Provider.

Bureaucrats and Other Pesky Critters

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Michael Patrick McCarty

For a couple of years or so I have been investigating the legal issues that relate to the rights of an individual to grow and sell meat, poultry, and other homegrown farm products directly to consumers. What would be the problem, you might ask? You can grow or raise, and sell, what you want to sell, right? We live in a free country, with free and open markets, do we not?

Well, not so fast. Being the rather cautious person that I am, I began some time ago to ask questions of people working in a long list of local, state, and federal government agencies that hold jurisdiction over the land, and of us. It has been a painful, core shaking inquiry that is not for the faint of heart. I have not enjoyed the experience.

I can discuss the actual laws and regulations pertaining to selling food later. What I can say now is that, with rare exception, I have confronted a nearly impenetrable wall of mind numbing and intimidating legalize, wrapped in doublespeak, and spouted gleefully by a largely incompetent army of no sayers and useful idiots. I hate to say it that way folks, but I have to call it like I see it.

Apparently, the government at all levels is an equal opportunity employer. I have been treated rudely and dismissively by condescending staff from the city level right up to the big ol’ federal government.

Typically, I’ve been told to call a certain department or agency. I’ve been told by that department to call another because they did not regulate this or that. I have called the referred department only to be instructed to call the department that just referred them. I’ve been put on hold so many times and for so long I don’t know if I can ever listen to bad music again. I’ve been disconnected while on hold, hung up on while talking with someone, given so many bad phone numbers, and forwarded to so many unrelated or defunct departments that I no longer know which agency to question.

More often than not,  I’ve been given information that is incomplete, misleading, or completely incorrect. In many instances I have discovered information at a later date that I felt was deliberately withheld at the time. I have had to constantly reassess the nature and purpose of my original question, and to doggedly return to the trail, like a bloodhound casting for scent. I can assure you that the government’s left hand does not know what it’s right hand is up to. They don’t even know where the other hand is, except to be sure that it just picked your pocket. They didn’t even say thanks.

I was in a good mood when I started my inquiries. I was positive and full of hope about the possibilities of new ventures, new businesses, new relationships. That’s gone now, and I feel like the cat that has caught a mouthful of tail feathers and no bird. I am still hungry, unsatisfied and empty, left with a bad taste in my mouth that I find hard to spit out.

I can barely talk to someone now without shaking my fist at them in my mind’s eye. I want to scream at them and ask if they somehow managed to forget that hey, by the way, you work for me don’t you know…for us?

I was mocked by a county “authority” a few weeks back. During our conversation he laughed and said something like “You just didn’t know you were biting into an elephant did you? Ha, Ha, Ha!”. (I think there was an unspoken “did ya boy” in there somewhere).

No, I guess you did not know that you had bitten into an elephant. I am wounded. You have drawn first blood. Like Howard Beale’s famous speech in the movie “Network”, I am mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore. The pen is mightier than the sword, or so I’ve heard. I shall add my voice to the cry of raw milk and cheese producers, home kitchen warriors, small organic growers, and many others similarly wronged.

This is not right. This will not stand. I hope more will join us. We shall see what part of the elephant you are, and what kind of elephant am I.

After all, I just wanted to sustainably grow and honestly market some healthy and nutritious food to other people of like mind. I wanted to feed my family from my private property and maybe generate some small income to help with a myriad of escalating expenses. I have been stopped at every turn, without recompense, nor quarter.

To deny a person’s right to sell the food one produces defies all common sense. So, I say, thank you for laughing, Mr. Bureaucrat – and calling me to action. It may not be wise to step between a wounded elephant and it’s children. The laws must be changed. We will have food freedom.

Has this happened to you? I am currently collecting stories from farmers and growers about their like experiences. Unfortunately, the horror stories have become more fiendish and pervasive, and all too common. Care to share?

“No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policeman, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets” – Edward Abbey.

 

What To Do If The Nightmare Becomes Reality?

by Todd Walker

I’ve waited all day trying to decide to post this or not. I don’t know what to think. So I’m putting it out there.

Last night I woke up in a panic. “It was only a dream,” I told myself.

The dream was real.  But could the terror in my dream materialize? I’m not a mystic or prophetic, but I do believe we should pay attention to dreams … and even nightmares.

It’s unusual for me to remember the details of a dream. In this one, I was horrified. Sweating. Agony. I don’t ever remember utilizing all 5 senses in a dream. Last night I could smell, feel, hear, taste, and see the detailed devastation.

It was a dark night of the soul experience.

TEOTWAWKI happened and I was caught with my pants down. Literally. It was like the scene from Schindler’s List where the Nazis were making their captives run around naked in the yard of the concentration camp. The older, weak, and less “useful” were sent to the furnace. Horrible!

The worst part about it was that I felt responsible somehow. I didn’t do enough.

DRG was ripped from my arms. Terror gripped me because I had no control. I couldn’t fight back the overwhelming numbers and force. “What would happen to our children, grandchildren, and expectant daughter-in-law,” I remember thinking.

Why am I sharing this miserable night? I’m not looking for an interpretation. The meaning is crystal clear to me.

Here’s what I took away from my twilight zone.

A.) Prepare now! You can take it as a warning or write it off as a dream from a crazy mind. Each of us are free to choose. The catch is that we can’t choose the consequences. Redouble your efforts in these areas.

• Self-sufficiency skills. Increase your ability to acquire the basics – water, food, shelter, and security.
  
• After the basics, begin to build resilience into systems like alternative energy, sustainable gardening/permaculture, and self-employment.

B.) Never give up your ability to defend yourself. Owning modern weaponry keeps the State in check, some what. Giving up your natural right to defend yourself from Enemies, Foreign and Domestic, leads to genocide. History is full of examples of the wholesale mass murder of disarmed subjects. Beware of lethal laws. Are you sure you’re not an enemy of the State? Are you on any lists?

• Here’s a disturbing list of countries that confiscated guns so bully tyrants could go wild. 
• The 20th century was the century of Government’s inhumanity to unarmed citizens.

C.) Build a strong relationship with your family, group, community, and God.

• Find ways to add value.
• Exchange value for value within your group and community.
• Establish beneficial bartering relationships locally.

D.) Wake up. Don’t fall for the it-could-never-happen-here doublespeak. Read some history. Our government has engaged in civilian round-ups before… in the name of national security. And we willing traded liberty for security.

• In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which permitted the military to circumvent the constitutional safeguards of American citizens in the name of national defense. Over 120,000 Americans of Japanese decent were forced to leave their homes, livelihoods, and families with the stroke of a pen. About half of these prisoners were children. Source
  
• President Andrew Jackson signed the The Indian Removal Act of 1830 which forced Native Americans to relocate to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. It was spun as voluntary, but always remember that government equals force. Over 100,000 people were forced to follow the Trail of Tears. 15,000 died on the journey. Source

We don’t have to have this kind of nightmare to jolt us into action. World events and the poly-ticks are evidence enough to shift your prepping into overdrive.

Was my dream just a nightmare or a premonition?

 

A Warning for Prepared Parents About Public Schooling

by Todd Walker

“I’m selling my baseball cards.”

English: The famous Honus Wagner T206 card, circa 1910. Français : La célèbre carte de baseball T206 Honus Wagner. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If only I owned this card

Dirt Road Girl was shocked.  She’s witnessed me lugging storage boxes from attic to shop to moving trucks for years.  They were my “precious”.  They ranged from the 1970’s to 2002.

Can’t remember when the hologram cards came out, but I never really liked them much. I bet they would have looked cool in my bicycle spokes growing up.  A hologram is “an image of technically sophisticated refraction purporting to be a solid due to its 3-D appearance.”  Another definition is “a document falsely representing itself as an accurate metaphor.”

English: “Aleph 2 (8X10 in.)” Hologram by Eric Leiser (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What we have in American schools is a hologram of education.  If schools were one of those fancy hologram baseball cards, you could hold it up at the right angle and the light would reflect to make schools appear to be solid institutions of leaning.  Only the slightest twist of the wrist changes the image into a new look.  Kind of like schools today.

This sophisticated refraction we call education, at its roots, is nothing more than the machine of the State to maintain obedience, submission, and supremacy.  The State is concerned about the education of children to the extent that VBCs (victims by choice) of government schooling become useful servants to their government and industry. I’ll be tarred and feathered at the lunch table when I come off Christmas break.

The governing intellectual elite hoodwinked the commoner and forced their will at the expense of the individual.  Taxes on the citizens were levied to maintain public schools as a tool of government whose purpose was to create an atmosphere of respect for America’s institutions.  Government schools eventually became an essential institution for the new experiment called America.  If they couldn’t control the liberty-minded adults that helped forge this republic, Uncle Sugar decided to use the force of government to indoctrinate their children.  Feel the creepiness up your spine yet?

Aristotle said, “All who have meditated on the act of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.”  The State is very concerned about your children.  Children belong to the State.  Parents are guardians to simply provide food, clothing and shelter similar to slave quarters of old.  Don’t believe me?  Try resisting.

Let’s stroll through one case of resisting law.

The idea of the judicial branch of our government balancing justice gives us warm-fuzzy feelings.  Reality, if you’re able to stomach it, paints another picture.  If you resist the State Compulsory Attendance Law on the basis it violates your natural rights as an individual to raise and educate your children in the way you see fit, you’ll be pursued and prosecuted – not for your beliefs, but for contempt of the law or court.  The State has little patience for  contumacious parents.  Just the threat of legal force to arrest is enough to bring compliance. If you’re a hard case and resist enough, the State will kill you.

The story of John Singer can be found here, and here.  Hidden at #1,909,423 on Amazon is “Death of an American: The killing of John Singer” by David Fleisher.  The ranking does not reflect the value of the story.

The Singer’s broke the “law” by refusing to subject their children to collectivist’s ideals and corrupting influence of State mandated schooling.  Charged by the State with “contempt of court” and “criminal neglect”, unsuccessful attempts were made to arrest the bandit Singer.  Singer defended himself from physical assault by the tax-feeders.  The State, hellbent on saving face, issued a “felony warrant” which allowed the hired-guns of the court to use any means necessary to bring fugitives to justice.  Deadly force is preferred.

The State’s death wish came true on the morning of January 18, 1979 when a jack-booted-thug of the State fired a blast of buckshot into the back of Singer, ending the “renegade’s” life.  The benevolent State was only interested in saving the “neglected” children.

A more recent story of State child snatchers illegally kidnapping a child who has been home schooled her entire life.   The mother won this round, but it ain’t over yet.  Child Protection Services and the State prosecutor were knocked down but not out.

Embarrassed, prosecutors are gearing up for another siege on the physically handicapped child and her family.  They used a SWAT team the first try.  Maybe they’ll just burn ’em out next time.

It’s not nice to flaunt individualism in the face of the State mafia.  “Family Court Judge Lynne Pierce told Assistant Attorney General Deborah Carley, who complained it appears the girl has never received anything other than homeschooling her entire life, she is not barred from pursuing criminal truancy charges if she feels the parents are flouting state law that required the education of children.”

How dare this mom.  She believes she has a right to make medical and educational decisions for her own child. This brave mom simply needs to be educated by past educrat elitists.

A big Hat Tip to my friend at Durable Faith for sharing this with me. Below are a few quotes taken  from Sheldon Richman’s book, Separating School & State: How To Liberate American Families.

Chapter 3: Why There Are Public Schools – Read the entire chapter here.

Let our pupil be taught that he does not belong to himself, but that he is public property. Let him be taught to love his family, but let him be taught at the same time that he must forsake and even forget them when the welfare of his country requires it. – Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence

As Horace Mann put it, “We who are engaged in the sacred cause of education are entitled to look upon all parents as having given hostages to our cause.”

For John Dewey, the mission of education was sacred: “The teacher always is the prophet of the true God and the usherer-in of the true Kingdom of God.”

William H. Seawell, professor of education at the University of Virginia, got caught in that position in 1981. He said, “Public schools promote civic rather than individual pursuits” and, “We must focus on creating citizens for the good of society.” But most startlingly, he said, “Each child belongs to the state.”

Any parent wishing to build preparedness, self-reliance, individualism, abstract thinking should take heed of the intended, but unspoken, consequences of government schooling. As John Taylor Gatto states, “the purpose of state schooling was not intellectual training but the conditioning of children “to obedience, subordination, and collective life.”

Proceed with caution my preparedness friends.

Recommended reading for prepared parents:

H/T to Durable: How Psychiatry & Modern Psychology Subvert Education, and Harm Children and Society

Separating School & State: How to Liberate America’s Families. Book: In Separating School & State, Sheldon Richman effectively and comprehensively analyzes the failures of public schooling in America and explains the ideas and ideology behind the case for compulsory education.

Follow me on Twitter for the latest on our journey to self-reliance, preparedness, and resilient living: @SurvivalSherpa

 

Economy Plummet In 3,2,1…

This article was originally published at My Family Survival Plan and is republished here with the author’s permission.

Source: My Family Survival Plan

By Alec Deacon

In case you were wondering when the brand new economic failure would settle in… well, wonder no more! The most recent reports show that it has already begun since January. So, to all those thinking all the “fuss” about a new financial crisis in 2013 is just fear mongering… here`s some bad news: the FACTS prove not only that it`s going to happen this year…. but that it`s already happening and it`s only getting worse.

Unfortunately, these people don`t read this site unless it`s by accidents. I know the MFSP community is made of concerned Americans, who are very aware of the realities of our times and try their best to protect their families against the looming crisis. On the other hand, most Americans are completely ignorant to these events and here`s the best example of their ignorance:

source: online.wsj.com

A decline in incomes was expected in January, but the estimated numbers were wrong. According to WSJ, personal incomes dropped 3.6% in January, as the Commerce Department said Friday. However, economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected a 2.5% decline. This marks the most dramatic decline since January 1993.

Now, what`s troubling is not the income plummet itself. The fact that numbers are bigger than expected is not all that surprising. In December, the monthly income was unusually high, because companies preferred to pay out early dividends to avoid 2013 upcoming tax hikes. A lot of $billion companies, such as Wal-Mart, Oracle, and Costco Wholesale Corp chose to pay dividends to their shareholders at the end of 2012 and not wait until 2013 and pay more on taxes. Therefore, when you compare January 2013 to December 2012, it`s absolutely natural for the numbers to be bigger than estimated. So the problem doesn`t necessarily lie here, but in what`s to happen in the next three to four months. And by that, I`m referring mainly to consumer behaviour.

source: rt.com

What did Americans do when a chunk of their paychecks suddenly vanished?“Households responded to this hit to income by reducing their savings, rather than by reducing their purchases, Paul Dales of Capital Economics said in a written analysis of the report.” (www.csmonitor.com)

In January, the spending rate rose 0.2%, while the personal-savings rate dropped to 2.4% from 6.4% in December. That`s the lowest rate since November 2007. I don`t what you think of this, but I think this is completely irresponsible, especially since…

Inflation is soaring!

source: telegraph.co.uk

You don`t need to be an economist to see how obvious it is. Prices are the best indicator and judging by the amount we spend just on groceries or on gas, inflation feels as real as it gets. But people don`t seem to learn their lesson. Remember 2008, when the crisis was just about to burst, and Americans were spending much more than they actually HAD? You`d think the crisis taught them to cherish saving more than irrational spending…

Well, here we are in 2013 and, after a so-called “slow, yet steady economic growth”, as our government lies in official numbers, Americans have easily adapted their old bad habits again. Even now, barely half of the population has more money in their savings account then they owe in credit card debt. (rt.com)

And you know what`s worse? The government thinks it`s a good sign. Consumer spending accounts for ⅔ of the U.S. economy, so let people shop like crazy and get the economy back on its feet! But what happens when they don`t spend their OWN money? What happens when their savings get lower (like it`s already started to), while their debt gets higher? It`s the same vicious circle that got us into the 2008 crisis in the first place. So, for God`s sake, for once in your lives, learn something from past mistakes (especially since they`re so recent!) and stop trying to push the economy forward in a toxic manner.

 

Udderly Ridiculous: A Tyranny Exercised for the Good of its Victims

First they came for the raw milk farmers,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a raw milk farmer.

by Ron Paul

Source: LewRockwell.com

While I oppose most gun control proposals, there is one group of Americans I do believe should be disarmed: federal agents. The use of force by federal agents to enforce unjust and unconstitutional laws is one of the major, albeit overlooked, threats to liberty. Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy.

For example, the offices of Rawesome Foods in Venice, California, have been repeatedly raided by armed federal and state agents, and Rawesome’s founder, 65-year-old James Stewart, has been imprisoned. What heinous crime justified this action? Rawesome sold unpasteurized (raw) milk and cheese to willing customers – in a state where raw milk is legal! You cannot even drink milk from a cow without a federal permit!

This is hardly the only case of federal agents using force against those who would dare meet consumer demand for raw milk. In 2011 armed agents of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided the business of Pennsylvanian Amish farmer Dan Allgyer. Federal agents wasted a whole year and who knows how many millions of our tax dollars posing as customers in order to stop Allgyer from selling his raw milk to willing customers.

The use of force against individuals making choices not approved of by the political elite does not just stop with raw milk. The Natural News website has documented numerous accounts of federal persecution, including armed raids, of health food stores and alternative medical practitioners.

Federal bureaucrats are also using force to crack down on the makers of gold coins for fear that people may use these coins as an alternative to the Federal Reserve’s fiat currency. Bernard von NotHaus, the founder of Liberty Dollars, is currently awaiting sentencing on federal counterfeiting charges — even though Mr. von NotHaus took steps to ensure his coins where not used as “legal tender.”

Yet, the federal government was so concerned over the possibility that Mr. von NotHaus’s customers might use his coins in regular day-to-day commerce they actually labeled Mr. von NotHaus a “terrorist.”

These type of police state tactics used against, among others, raw milk producers, alternative health providers, and gold coin dealers is justified by the paternalistic attitude common in Washington, D.C. A member of Congress actually once told me that, “The people need these types of laws because they do not know what is good for them.” This mindset fuels the growth of the nanny state and inevitably leads to what C.S. Lewis said may be the worst from of tyranny “…a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims.”

All Americans, even if they do not believe it is a wise choice to drink raw milk or use gold coins, should be concerned about the use of force to limit our choices. This is because there is no limiting principle to the idea that the government force is justified if used “for our own good.” Today it is those who sell raw milk who are being victimized by government force, tomorrow it could be those who sell soda pop or Styrofoam cups. Therefore, all Americans should speak out against these injustices.

 

8 Warning Signs of Cranial-Rectal Inversion and Little-Known Cures

Many have died from this dreaded condition. Sufferers spend their entire lives in a dark, robotic bliss.

You’ve seen them. People that look like one of the Queen’s Guards standing at attention outside Buckingham Palace thinking about his upcoming fully probing physical. With robot like precision, they carry out their assigned duties.

Being a former Cranial-Rectal Inversion sufferer, it is my duty, as your new friend, to share my little-known self-healing techniques to assist with the labor of prying – saving you from this chronic wasting condition. The truth will set you free – or maybe not.

Photo credit

First, let me explain my short list of symptoms for CRI.

• You believe the talking heads on TV and talk radio are simply reporting the facts – even the “fair and balanced” guys. We report, you decide. You toss logic and emotionally defend your side even if it’s wrong.
• You think your doctor prescribes drugs from Big Pharmaceutical companies because they have a ‘proven’ track record. Follow the money.
• You think your vote counts in our two-party system.
• You think your Government is set up to serve you – even rescue you.
• You believe the Federal Reserve is a government agency and Keynesian economics is enlightened thought and money policy.
• You believe the USDA’s food plate (formerly known as the Food Pyramid) run by the Industrial Food Machine is healthy eating.
• You think public schooling equals education.
• You believe “It could never happen here.”

If you feel you are experience severe discomfort in the cranial or rectal regions by simply reading this short list…

STOP READING NOW! There is no danger ahead. Go back to sleep.

For brave souls seeking relief, let’s continue.

As many of you know, I’m a government school teacher by day and an inconvenient irritant. The truth is very irritating to CRI sufferers – but the only cure. It’s like the small grain of sand in your shoe. You must stop, remove your shoe, and search for the source of irritation if you are to continue your journey in conventional comfort. Most afflicted patients toss the small speck, lace up their shoe, and continue in their delusional race. Tiny irritants happen for a reason. Why not sit with your shoe off for a moment to consider the true source of your discomfort.

I’ll say this up front. Healing won’t happen instantly. In my case, it’s taken gradual steps over a number of years. You’re probably sharper than me, so you may get there faster. With shoe in hand, ponder some truth.

Everything is rigged against you. Government, schools, media, Big Food, Big Pharma, and even our beloved Constitution. Even the one document that this country was established to follow is broken – thanks to Big Government Federalists. These clever puppet masters built-in the needed loopholes in our Constitution for government to do what it does best – coerce. The oppressor will not ever let go of the oppressed. In Patrick Henry’s words, “Will the oppressor let go of the oppressed? Was there ever an instance?” NO.

Henry’s Anti-Federalist speak was proven right when Washington crushed the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. He sent in his standing army on American soil to force its will on the people it supposedly served. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 made criminals of anyone criticizing the government. What we are shouting about concerning the latest gun grab is nothing more than a continuation of gradualism which began at our nations birth. Never forget: Government equals force.

I don’t write this article with moral superiority or my nose turned up at those trapped in Cranial-Rectal Inversion. Quite the opposite. The system or matrix we live in creates the proper conditions in our Petri dish for this disorder to flourish. A conscious effort to pry cranium from rectum is required to be truly disease free.

My purpose here is to offer little-known cures to put you on the path of freedom, self-ownership, preparedness, and resilient living. These are only a few CRI antidotes that delivered me. I hope they’ll help other CRI sufferers. For those chronic CRI-ers, getting over the denial will be your first hurdle. Don’t give up. Keep following the rabbit hole my friend.

“Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

-Albert Einstein

1.) Recommended CRI cure for believers in the creature called the State. “We’re from the government and here to help” is hummed from CRI bowels world-wide. Spoken often enough, coupled with the bad odor of public schooled ignorance, the masses embrace and believe the lie. If you’re having trouble keeping up with all the things your government is telling you to be afraid of, check out the links below. Stop living in fear of horrible make-believe hobgoblins.

• LewRockwell.com
• Hologram of Liberty
• Strike The Root
• Zero Hedge
• Whiskey & Gunpowder
• Starving the Monkeys

2.) Recommended CRI cure for compulsory government-controlled schooling. If your gut is telling you “something just ain’t right” about these minimum security K-12 facilities, I urge you, as an insider, to follow your gut and withdraw (save) your children from the one-size-fits-all brainwashing factories. I’ve sounded alarms in the past: here, here, and here. The ship of schooled students is sinking. You are the life raft.

I talked to a former student not long ago who’s mom pulled him from the wreckage of government schooling in the 7th grade. He told me he has a new love for learning, discovery, and a sense of direction for his life in his pursuit of independent home education. There are no experts with degrees there to dictate what he is or should be interested in learning. He’s left alone – something the State schooling system simply can’t do – to learn things which interests him.

My oldest daughter talked to me around the fire pit last night about writing computer code. Keep in mind that she didn’t ‘study’ code in her four-year college experience. How could this be? She found it interesting and is teaching herself through open source information online.

This scene is being played out all over America as former CRI patients begin the deliberate process of self-diagnosis and begin taking steps toward freedom.

Still not convinced?  Add these to your reading list:

• Weapons of Mass Instruction
• Dumbing Us Down
• How Children Learn
• Deschooling Society
• National Home Education Research Institute

3.) Recommended CRI cure for Keynesian followers and fiat money changers:

• Ludwig von Mises Institute
• I, Pencil
• Economics in One Lesson
• Tom Woods’s Liberty Classroom

4.) Recommended CRI cure for the History you didn’t learn in school:

• 33 Questions About American History Your Not Suppose To Ask
• The Real Lincoln
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

5.) Recommended CRI cure for doctor-knows-best and Big Pharma’s poisonous pill culture:

• Dr. Mercola has made significant milestones in his mission to bring people practical solutions to their health problems.
• The NaturalNews Network is a non-profit collection of public education websites covering topics that empower individuals to make positive changes in their health, environmental sensitivity, consumer choices and informed skepticism. (Mike Adams – Health Ranger)
• Beyond Meds – This blog documents and shares many natural methods of self-care for finding and sustaining health in body, mind and spirit.

6.) Recommended CRI cure for the “It can’t happen here” crowd:

Really!? It’s already happened here and is happening right in front of us – in broad day light. Our brazen elites aren’t doing a stellar job at hiding their slight of hand. War is peace as long as the drones are bombing innocents “over there.” The State has an insatiable appetite and must “protect” its subjects from terror. The official plan for domestic death by drone was leaked here. Oops.

Our most recent past and present regimes have bypassed and crushed our constitution for our safety. Or is there a more sinister plan? We now have a bogus war on drugs, war on terror, war on guns (and all personal property) – all to keep the individual on the State plantation.

Had enough? This is a very personal question. Each of us have our own personal tolerance threshold. We’re individuals.

The sad part about the “had enough?” question is that Cranial-Rectal Inversion blocks sound waves from reaching ears.

I didn’t cover cures for all 8 of the CRI symptoms. Time is short and I’ve got other things to attend to. Help me out here and leave your cures in the comment section.

The Thought Police and Fake Guns in Schools

My experience  as a government school teacher can confirm Mr. Rappoport’s  claims in his article. Remember the kid who pointed a pizza chewed into the shape of a gun at lunch? It gets worse.

What’s behind the punishment behind fake guns in schools

By Jon Rappoport

February 6, 2013

Source: www.nomorefakenews.com

In the latest episode of Ban Fake Guns, we have a boy suspended from school in Florence, Arizona, for carrying, yes, a picture of a gun on his computer. Screen saver. This is surely a sign of complete mental breakdown by school officials. And yet one more reason to home school.

Steve Watson, writing at infowars, runs down the recent litany of fake gun crimes at schools across America, resulting in student suspensions, suspension hearings, and actual school lockdowns:

Transparent toy gun. South Carolina.

Gun built from lego bricks. Massachusetts.

Two kids talking about a nerf gun. New York.

An actual nerf gun. New York.

A pink bubble gun. Pennsylvania.

A paper gun. Pennsylvania.

Pointing a finger and saying “pow.” Maryland.

Playing cops and robbers with fingers. Maryland.

Making a gun “hand gesture.” Oklahoma.

Should we assume that because cops and school officials can’t stop real crimes, they’re settling for stopping fake crimes.

Can you hear the typical response to these school suspensions and lockdowns? “Well, everybody in the community is on edge these days, after Sandy Hook.”

That remark garners a “Mmm, well, sure.”

Then, the follow-up: “It’s unfortunate that school officials and police MAY HAVE overreacted. Suspension from school is PROBABLY too much. These kids need some form of LESSER DISCIPLINE, and, of course, EDUCATION about the dangers of guns.”

And there you have it. It’s a sleight-of-hand trick. Go completely overboard with an officially certified insane action (suspension, lockdown), and people will ask for something slightly less insane instead.

“Well, shooting old Bob in the leg and blowing up his car because he was sitting on his back porch cleaning his rifle was probably a bit much. A few days in jail would have taught him the right lesson.”

In schools, the slightly less insane (but still quite insane) solution to fake guns might go something like this:

“Today, class, we’re going to learn about how dangerous it is to have a picture of a gun.”

“You see, Jimmy, when you build a gun out of lego, you think it’s all right because you don’t know any better. But some other child might be terrified when she sees the gun. And that’s why we’re here. To protect everybody from bad feelings.”

Jimmy scratches his five-year-old head and wonders what world he was born into. He’s just been introduced to “greatest good for the greatest number,” “you have no freedom,” and “least bad for the lowest number,” all in five seconds.

What we’re seeing here is a mandate to change the culture. Teach these kids that any reference to, symbol of, or thought about guns is wrong.

Welcome to operant conditioning.

These fake-gun busts are really about thought crimes.

We recently saw that with the passage of a New York State gun law. It requires psychiatrists to signal the police when they have a patient who may be “a danger to himself or others.” The patient is thereafter banned from owning a gun.

Any patient, any person has had thoughts of violence. Any psychiatrist can tease such thoughts out of a patient. And that can be sufficient to make a report to the police.

Read the rest here

Guns and Obama for Dummies

Here’s a nice guide I found over at Karen De Coster’s website. It’s probably too small for a tee-shirt. Smile and spread some cheer… And keep doing the stuff.

Guns & Obama for Dummies

Sunday, January 20, 2013

A Michael Ramirez cartoon from the Investor’s Business Daily.

Along with that, here is a recent viewpoint as expressed by Ramirez.

To understand why President Obama surrounded himself with a human shield of children last week as he ordered a tightening of our nation’s gun controls, you have to remember this is an administration that never lets a “crisis” go to waste. Nor does it resist the use of a superficial prop to divert attention from serious deliberation.

It also has a history of claiming urgency to pass solutions based on misinformation without careful reflection.

Welcome to Hunger Games Lite

by Todd Walker

I stopped one of my bright, well-read students in the hall last year to talk about a book he was carrying. I hadn’t read it and I wanted a quick review. I was sold when he said it’s like the world as we know it has ended and tyrants control everything.

Photo credit

“Do you believe it could happen here?” I asked.

“Oh yeah!” he said.

He’s wise beyond his years. Here’s why.

• He thinks for himself, making him a target of the collective.
• He’s contumacious. con·tu·ma·cious – adj. Obstinately disobedient to authority or rebellious; insubordinate

After reading the book on my Kindle, I had to agree with his “Oh yeah!” statement. The similarities between Panem (what’s left of our continent) in The Hunger Games, and our pre-apocalyptic America are noticeable, if you’re paying attention.

Hunger Games (Panem)	Hunger Games Lite (America 2013)
Big Brother sees all	Big Sis sees all – or wants to
Totalitarian Regime	“Soft Tyranny” – trading Liberty for safety
Total Dependence on Regime: Food, Water, Shelter, “Safety” from boogiemen	Our Gradual slide into the State of Tyranny: Patriot Act, NDAA, Domestic Spy Drones, 100 years of the Federal Reserve cabal,
Regime Controlled Propaganda Machine	Regime Controlled Propaganda Machine
Monopoly on Violence/Force: Resist and face brutal force	With the help of the Regime’s Propaganda Machine, dumbing down the masses via government schooling, and our addiction to “free” stuff, Americans are in the Hunger Games Lite. What if we resist?

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude.” – Aldous Huxley

Katniss Everdeen, the heroine of The Hunger Games, and all people of Panem lived under the boot of a tyrannical regime that promised prosperity and peace but couldn’t deliver. Everyday folk of Panem realized they were only useful tools for the Capitol and staged a rebellion. The Powers That Be crushed the uprising and completely destroyed District 13. As punishment for the masses un-gratefulness and rebellion, the Capitol institutes the Hunger Games to keep the subjects in line. Each of the 12 surviving districts were forced to offer two Tributes (a girl and boy between the age of 12 and 18) to compete – fight to the death. The winner would bring home honor and essential rations (crumbs from the elite’s bountiful table) for their district.

Are we that far from this scenario in America? Do we love our servitude so much that we sacrifice essential liberties for State provided temporary safety?

We are indeed experiencing Hunger Games Lite. We are the most spied upon people in the world. The long and gradual line of abuses have a way of dulling the herd’s awareness of the despots goal. How much information does our benevolent government want to collect to keep us “safe” from terrorism? Big Brother wants it all. Phone calls, emails, social website exchanges, traffic habits, spending habits, and even your thoughts are fair game in our surveillance state. Natural law and Bill of Rights be damned. Inquiring mind-controllers want to know.

Public school students think it normal to be constantly watched and searched without probable cause. They’re trained to leave their rights at the school-house doors. Cameras filming every move is not enough for some school districts. Some schools are turning kids into lab rats in a scientific school maze by forcing them to wear “smart” I.D. cards. These embedded radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips enable anyone with the right technology to track whether the student is using the urinal or toilet. All in the name of reducing truancy. Schools loose state and federal money when students get fed up with the one-size-fits-all meat grinding of schooling and take a mental health day. Remember: Power is for power’s sake. Refusing to wear these badges results in privileges being withdrawn. A tactic all school teachers are familiar with.

Rats!

Speaking of rats. Panem was full of theses nasty human vermin. Our “District 12” is no different. We are encouraged by those who supposedly know more than us commoners to snitch on fellow slaves. “See something, say something.” Many formerly free people have felt the heat of false accusations turn into lengthy prison sentences. Guilty until proven innocent. Claire Wolfe has written a Free Ebook called Rats! If you own guns, speak or write non-PC opinions, are a political activist, a prepper, belong to a non-mainstream religion, and/or want to protect your privacy, you should read this book. “But I’ve got nothing to hide.” Don’t be naive. Read the book. It’s free!

In 1735, my ancestors landed on these shores. They fought in the American War of Independence and the War of Northern Aggression (Civil War for the “Honest Abe” worshippers). Research and family stories portray us as a patriotic, individualist, self-reliant, and contumacious bunch. Those qualities haven’t been lost on me. Through thick and thin, my ancestors pasted the “liberty” gene on to me. It’s getting harder and harder these days to practice freedom in our Hunger Games Lite. So here is my short list of tips to help you fight back smarter.

Decrease Dependence

• Adopt a theme of self-reliance and preparedness.
• Fight the temptation of petty consumerism. Learn new skills for sustainable living.
• Read Starving The Monkeys for practical ways to Fight Back Smarter.
• Focus on natural health, real food, and functional fitness.
• Build tribe and community

I Prefer Not To

Say, “I prefer not to.” When questioned again as to why not, repeat, “I prefer not to.” This bold, polite, non-violent statement was used repeatedly in Herman Melville’s short story “Bartleby, the Scrivener“.  John Taylor Gatto suggests, and I agree, that if enough freedom loving people would withdraw consent and refuse to jump through all the government mandated hoops, we could slam the door on tyranny in our time. Mr. Gatto used Bartleby’s refusal to comply as a model for stopping the rigged system of state standardized testing. Read more on the Bartleby Project here.

The “I prefer not to” strategy can be deployed in areas other than schools. The hot topic today, following the Sandy Hook tragedy, is gun control. The Regime in Panem, like all totalitarian regimes throughout history, wielded power over the masses by disarming its subjects. Clubs and bows are no match for guns. If the progressives get their legislative way and enact a gun ban, will “law-abiding citizens” comply?

History says we won’t. Just like the days of prohibition and the failed war on drugs, banning guns that look evil will only increase demand – and supply – via the black market. Actually, the war on drugs is not a failure at all. It’s quite a financial windfall for the State. “I prefer not to” give up my guns, full capacity magazines, and ammo. Help spread Bartleby’s spirit of resistance and say, “I prefer not to ___________.”

What happens when “I prefer not to” isn’t enough? Each of us will have a decision to make when that line crossed. The key will be seeing the line and responding accordingly.

“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.” – John Locke

Morality: The Hard Line Between Revolutionary and Terrorist

by Daisy Luther

January 5, 2013

In a war, it appears that it’s easy to become just as bad as the monsters that you are fighting.

Just ask the survivors of a killing spree in Afghanistan last March, when US soldiers went on a rampage, killing 17 civilians, 9 of them children. Only one soldier, Army Staff Sgt Robert Bales, was charged but the witnesses have a different story:

One mother-of-six, whose husband was killed during the incident, believes there were as many as 20 people involved.

She told SBS Dateline journalist Yalda Hakim: ‘When they shot dead my husband, I tried to drag him into the house, they’d shot him in the head so his brain was all over my hands. I had to use a bowl for his blood.

‘I saw more than 20 people when I looked out the house. The Americans pointed their guns at me and threatened me, telling me not to leave the house or they’d kill me.’

Another witness, an eight-year-old girl called Noorbinak, said a gunman shot her family’s dog before shooting her father in the foot and dragging her mother by the hair.

When her father screamed, he was shot dead, before the gunman shot Noorbinak in the leg.

She said: ‘One man entered the room and the others were standing in the yard, holding lights.’

The brother of another victim claimed that his nephews and nieces saw numerous soldiers involved in the assault, all wearing headlamps and with lights strapped to the ends of their guns.

He said: ‘They don’t know whether there were 15 or 20, however many there were.’

Source

If it seems somehow more acceptable that this happened across the world in a 3rd world country with whom we were at war, then how about an example closer to home?  The law-abiding, legal gun owners of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, would also bear witness to the savagery of which those in uniform are capable.

“Few Americans realize that on February 28, 1993 when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (“BATF”) agents in National Guard helicopters zoomed in on the Branch Davidians’ church and home, Mount Carmel Center, they did so with guns blazing, like Americans raiding a Vietnamese village in that far off war….These agents shot wildly and threw grenades at the building for more than an hour, even as Davidians called “911″ to beg for a ceasefire….For weeks the FBI sabotaged negotiations through lies, threats and insults, destruction of property, shining of bright lights, blaring of loud music and violent sounds, and terrifying helicopter overflights and fake tank rammings….Their goal was to destroy the building and its damaging evidence, even if that meant the massacre of dozens of men, women and children, all witnesses to the brutal attack….On April 19, 1993, the FBI used its tanks systematically to turn Mount Carmel into a lethal fire trap. Tanks collapsed the trap door leading to the underground tornado shelter and all three staircases. Tanks rammed a concrete room sheltering dozens of Davidians until the ceiling collapsed, killing women and children before the fire. Long booms saturated the building with flammable gas, probably mixed with flammable solvents…Attorney General Janet Reno and the Justice Department were not content with murdering 82 Davidians, 61 of them women and children. They were intent upon prosecuting and punishing the few survivors whose “crime” was defending themselves against an unprovoked paramilitary assault.”

Source

It’s very clear that hostility is boiling up in America right now.  The lines of battle are being drawn.  On the one side, there are Patriots who are enraged at the systematic desecration of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. On the other are those who are shredding those same documents, legislation by legislation.  The fight is on between liberty and tyranny.

As emotions run high, so do the comments on different forums and websites.  People are buckling on their theoretical swords because the battle is near.

But when that battle comes, what will these people do?  How will people behave in the heat of battle?  Will they maintain their ethics and remember that the fight is against evil or will they fight fire with fire?  Will those on the side of freedom become as monstrous and tyrannical as the people they are fighting against?

Wherefore the greater care must be taken to temper it with humanity, lest by too much imitating beasts we absolutely forget the man.

~ Hugo Grotus, Morality of War

If we become the same inhumane monsters as those who would oppress us, what, then, is the point?  If you behave dishonorably, then how can you consider yourself morally superior to those upon whom you are waging war?  There is a line between war and terrorism.No matter what your initial intentions and motivations, once you cross that line, you are just as evil as those you purport to defeat.

To quote my good friend, American freeman patriot, N.O., “We just can’t afford to become animals in such circumstances.  We all, for the sake of our own moral survival and our communities’ moral survival, must step up and become the law of the land, and stand by it .”

If people are fighting for freedom from a perspective of morals, then rules of engagement must apply.  Mercy must be present.  Warriors must be people of honor and control.  The Geneva Convention, ratified in 1949, is very clear on these concepts:

• Non-combatants must not be targeted for violence or attacks on their personal dignity.
• Extensive destruction or appropriation of property should not occur in a wanton fashion.

This means that innocent lives should be spared.  This means that the widespread destruction of homes, the pillaging of private property and the razing of the countryside – these actions are out of bounds.  It doesn’t matter who the innocents are related to.  It doesn’t matter who the innocents voted for, whether they are a different race or whether they swipe an EBT card to pay for their groceries.  Non-combatants should be spared  and should absolutely never be directly targeted by any soldier on either side.

The victims of war have changed over the past 100 years.

• At the beginning of the twentieth century only 10%-15% of those who died in war were civilians.
• In World War 2 more than 50% of those who died were civilians.
• By the end of the century over 75% of those killed in war were civilians.

Source

Whether or not the other side adheres to the principles of war should not play in to one’s own ethical decisions.  The concept of total war is unnecessary, immoral, and a step into the abyss of evil. (Total war is defined by Google as “A war that is unrestricted in terms of the weapons used, the territory or combatants involved, or the objectives pursued, esp. one in which the laws of war are disregarded.“)

Those who would lead must lead by example.  They must seriously consider their moral compasses and then direct their followers accordingly.

The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline;

thus it is in his power to control success.  

~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War

If being on the high road and side of goodness aren’t enough to convince people that their actions should be above reproach, then consider the importance of public opinion.

Wars are won and lost on the tide of public opinion.  No one will fight more viciously than  an opponent whose innocent family has been slaughtered. No one will be more determined than a person protecting home and loved ones. Committing acts of evil gives the impetus of righteous anger to who were victims of the atrocities.

In a letter on this topic, N.O. wrote,

“We all need to take the high road on this or we will fail in our efforts.  Public opinion will win or lose you the war.   We must protect their lives even more so than our own women and children .  Why? … because eventually the war will end and the more brutal we are the more they will fight us to the death; the more our own women and children will suffer and die.  WE MUST STAY ON THE HIGH ROAD.”

Behaviors like targeting non-combatants makes the force that commits such acts the “bad guys”.  It doesn’t matter what they began by defending or fighting for – committing evil means that you are evil.  People will fear you and they will not support or aid you willingly.  You become someone to fight against, not for. N.O. explained this from a strategic standpoint.

“If you start killing, abusing and defiling the non-combatant innocent women and children on either side of the conflict …  you will lose the support of the non-combatant public at large ! You will lose your access to local supplies, intel, clean water, food, and will soon be fighting not only a government army (who are now more determined to fight you to the death to protect their own women and children), but also fighting against the local guerrillas, who are fighting you just to protect their women and children from you and your men.  They will stand their ground and fight with a vengeance to their death or yours.”

More compelling than even this is the thought that patriots are the people who hope to rebuild an ethical, moral society.  How can people behave as animals and expect to create a good, pure and just society?  Remember what you are fighting for and behave accordingly, for the result you get will be the one you earn through your actions.

In conclusion, no matter which side of the argument you come down on, the justifications of

“Following orders”

“They did it first”

“God told Moses to kill every man, woman and child in Canaan”

“It was war”

“I’m a soldier”

are never enough to defend the commission of immoral acts, especially against the innocents. A uniform is not a exemption for decency and being “right” is not a dispensation of accountability. It isn’t the uniform who makes the man, but the man who makes the uniform.

I am not a soldier, but I believe in defending what is right, good and innocent, regardless of politics, war, nationality and “sides”.  I believe in God, liberty, and honor and I refuse to be dissuaded from my intention to live by those standards.

I believe that the real enemy has no specific face – it is one that attacks from within us all.  The enemy that all of us must resist is the temptation to do evil during terrible times. We will create the law of the land. The surest way to end up with a Mad Max world is to become as vicious and ruthless as those against whom we would rebel.

Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one.

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Author bio: Daisy Luther is a freelance writer and editor.  Her website, The Organic Prepper, offers information on healthy prepping, including premium nutritional choices, general wellness and non-tech solutions. You can follow Daisy on Facebook and Twitter, and you can email her at daisy@theorganicprepper.ca