Saturday, November 8, 2014

American Made Sham Election Vultures Come Home to Roost – Payback’s a Bitch for Honey Bees


Just days after the November 4th U.S. election where government certified voters went to the polls to select among the government sanctioned candidates, who will represent them in government.  The sham election vultures have come home to roost and payback’s a bitch.


Excerpt:



Organic Farmers Object to California Pest-Management Plan


SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — With organic food growers reporting double-digit growth in US sales each year, producers are challenging a PROPOSED California pest-management program they say enshrines a pesticide-heavy approach for decades to come, including compulsory spraying of organic crops at the state’s discretion.


Chief among the complaints of organic growers: The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s pest-management plan says compulsory state pesticide spraying of organic crops would do no economic harm to organic producers, on the grounds that the growers could sell sprayed crops as non-organic instead.

 

  Pesticide Damage

Oh my God, what are we living in a communist country?  The California Department of Food and Agriculture says organic farmers won’t be economically harmed by government ordered pesticide poisons sprayed all over their land because they can still sell their produce, just not as organic.


“I would rather stop farming than have to be a conventional farmer. I think I am not alone in that,” said Zea Sonnabend, a Watsonville organic apple-grower with California Certified Organic Farmers, one of more than 30 agriculture groups, environmental organizations and regional water agencies to file concerns about the agriculture department’s pesticide provisions by an Oct. 31 state deadline.


At issue is a California organic agriculture industry that grew by 54 percent between 2009 and 2012. California leads the nation in organic sales, according to statistics tracked by University of California-Davis agriculture economist Karen Klonsky, who says the state is responsible for roughly one-third of a national organic industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture puts the overall value of the U.S. organic sector at $35 billion.

Organic Food

Hmmm, if you take a $35 billion dollar nationwide industry of organic foods and wipe out the California market where one-third of the national organic industry is located, the government will wipe out the organic food industry.   Sounds like someone has bought themselves a government.  Pesticide regulation in the United States is primarily a responsibility of the Environmental Protection Agency so this goes all the way to the top.


The U.S. organic industry has seen a similar growth spurt nationally in the same time frame, and three out of four grocery stores in the country now carry at least some organic goods, according to the USDA. California’s $43 billion agriculture industry is the largest in the country by revenue, so what happens here matters to consumers and to the agriculture industry nationwide….


Nice little gig Monsanto, Dow Chemical and the lot have going.  I wonder how much profits the destruction of the organic food industry will put into their coffers.  And don’t forget the “PROPOSED California pest-management program they say enshrines a pesticide-heavy approach for decades to come, including compulsory spraying of organic crops at the state’s discretion.”


Many groups challenging the plan complained that it seems to authorize state agriculture officials to launch pesticide treatments without first carrying out the currently standard separate environmental-impact review.


But Steve Lyle, a spokesman for the agriculture department, said the outline doesn’t give state crop-pest programs any power they don’t already have by law.


If the proposed plan doesn’t give the agriculture department any power it doesn’t already have by law, why is the plan needed?  I don’t get it.

Honest, I Already Have the Power I Seek

For some conventional growers as well as some organic ones, the fate of the pest-management plan outlined by the state isn’t a theoretical concern.  It’s an immediate issue of their economic survival due, in part, to a disease-carrying pest that’s a little bigger than a pencil point…


The standard treatment for the citrus pest is conventional pesticides, including neocotinoids linked to the decline of crop-pollinating bees. The citrus industry and federal government also have spent $25 million to try to find, without major breakthroughs so far, less toxic controls for the citrus pest, said Joel Nelsen, head of the California Citrus Mutual industry trade-group.


Organic farmers are asking the state to give more consideration to non-toxic controls, including long-term methods to strengthen crops and habitats in advance against marauding tropical species, said Kelly Damewood, policy director for California Certified Organic Farmers….


“They treat this in a crisis mode in the same way they would an earthquake or a fire,” Carey said. “Most times there’s not that kind of urgency at all.


“Every pest that comes in they request federal money for, run out of money for, and it just kinds of fades away.”

You know, the chemicals and poisons have been only marginally successful in pest control, so is it really worthwhile to destroy the soil, plant life and water?  While I was looking around at the SanFrancisco CBS page I came across this article from February 2013:  


Excerpt:

 
California Consumer Watchdog


Consumer Watch: Calif. Watchdog Keeping Grocers Accountable Shut Down


SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — The government watchdog that is supposed to ensure consumers are not overcharged at the grocery store has stopped doing its job. KPIX 5 ConsumerWatch has learned the state’s Price & Quantity Verification Program has been shut down, pending closed door meetings with the grocers and retailers it is supposed to be regulating.


Investigations by the state’s Price & Quantity Verification program have led to dozens of lawsuits against nationwide retailers, amounting to millions of dollars in fines and fees. Not only did the lawsuits serve as a deterrent for overcharging, but they often result in new consumer protections.


A 2008 lawsuit against Safeway included an injunction that now requires the store to provide most overcharged items for free (items overcharged more than $5 are subject to a $5 gift card).


Similar injunctions were recently issued in settlements with other retailers including CVS, Walgreens, Fresh and Easy, Staples, and Wal-Mart. But these lawsuits may be the last of their kind.


Wow, sounds like that watchdog agency was taking on some pretty powerful companies, you know the kind of companies that can buy elections.


Following cuts to the state’s general fund, California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross convened a Weights and Measures-specific consortium to decide which programs should face funding cuts and which, if any, should be defunded completely.


The consortium, including representatives from Wal-Mart, The California Grocers Association, California Retailers Association, and Proctor and Gamble, chose to defund the Price Quantity Verification program that had previously led to numerous lawsuits against its members.


The groups are now meeting to debate whether to fund the programs themselves with industry-paid fees. The state has denied KPIX 5 access to those meetings.


Yep, sounds like some favors need to be called in. 


The Director of Measurement Standards Kristin Macey said the industry groups that were hand picked by Ross need privacy to speak freely. “They’re helping to work with us to replace the general funds that were lost,” said Macey….

We Need Our Privacy to Screw You

So, the powerful retailers, who according to the U.S. Supreme Court are “people”, fund political campaigns and in return receive massive tax breaks and subsidies from those politicians.  Then to fill the revenue gap, the agencies that regulate the retailers are either underfunded or eliminated.


Internal memos revealed the California Grocers Association and the California Grocery Manufacturers Association have been “vocal opponents” of the program….


Macey denies industry opposition. “They’ve been very supportive,” said Macey.


However, she made contradictory statements in a speech at a Weights & Measures conference last month. Macey was quoted as saying “The Grocers Association refused to discuss any funding” and that they believed “they were capable of policing themselves.”


So the retailers who bought the politicians now tell the politicians to buzz off, we’ll police ourselves, if you don’t like it we’ll just replace you.  So anyway, I’m still trolling around and I find this 2012 article at Hoards Dairymen

 
Bob Giacomini and Family
Excerpt:


CDFA Secretary Karen Ross Completely Misses the Point


Today, Milk Producers Council’s General Manager Rob Vandenheuvel put out the following comments in response to a “Statement on Milk Pricing” published by the California Department of Food and Agriculture:

  “As many California dairy families stood on the State Capitol steps this morning demanding a fair price for the milk they produce, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), led by Secretary Karen Ross, put out an extremely disappointing ‘Statement on Milk Pricing.’

Over the past several years, California dairy farmers have expressed growing frustration over how CDFA establishes monthly prices for milk sold in the State. However, what was once just a frustration has now culminated into financial devastation, with scores of California dairies reportedly already in bankruptcy, and the rest in dire financial straits.

Hmmmm, CFDA Secretary Karen Ross again, doesn’t sound like she cares much about the people of California.

“The economic challenges that face dairy families in California and throughout the U.S. are well-documented. Dairy farms are being squeezed between record high feed costs and milk prices that have failed to cover those costs month-after-month, leaving the dairies swimming in losses. However, adding insult to injury in California, our Department of Food and Agriculture, which is tasked with establishing on-the-farm milk prices that are in a ‘reasonable and sound economic relationship’ with what comparable milk is being sold for around the country, has overseen more than two years of a steep discount in what a large portion of our milk is sold for in California. In other words, while the U.S. dairy industry has certainly been having a difficult time, Secretary Ross has seen fit to sit idly by as her State’s dairy farmers go through utter devastation, with CDFA’s own policies much to blame.

Yes, it pays to buy a government.  It just occurred to me, the “new” corporately owned U.S. Government sends its military and spooks to cash poor, resource rich countries around the world and overthrows their governments like Ukraine.


Then they export our “democratic elections” to their country where we put up a roster of U.S. government approved candidates, eliminate voters unlikely to vote “the right way” and voila you have a “authentic” American made sham election.


To see how it works, just look at Scotland.  Scotland recently had an opportunity to break away from the U.K.  In September a referendum vote took place on whether or not to leave the United Kingdom and return to being an independent country.  From National Geographic:



Excerpt:


In Record Turnout Demographics Shape Scotland's Emphatic No Vote


The dream of Scottish independence died at 6:17 a.m. (BST), when an exhausted Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the moving force behind independence, conceded defeat.


The final tally, delivered by chief counting officer Mary Pitcaithly, was 55.4 percent for No and 44.6 for Yes.


It was the end of a boisterous and sometimes rancorous two-year campaign that engaged Scotland and the rest of the British Isles like no other political issue since the end of World War II…..


Wow, independence voted down by around 10.8% with record turnout.  That’s pretty decisive.



For the Yes camp, it meant heartbreak. "It's sad for the brave nation of Scotland to succumb to fear," sighed Audrey Gillies, a former care worker from Hawick, in the Border country. "I feel very emotional."…


Glasgow, a predominantly working-class city with about 11 percent of the total electorate, delivered for the Yes campaign, as expected.


Shortly before 6 a.m. (BST) Edinburgh voted emphatically No, with 61 percent.


Aberdeenshire, Salmond's backyard and home of the North Sea oil industry, emphatically rejected independence.


Looks like the working class was more for the “yes” vote. 


Salmond immediately blamed scaremongering by London. But there are other, more rational, reasons for the defeat. Faced with opposition from most of the traditional media, the Yes campaign relied on social media to get out its message (and, often, trash its opponents).


So the campaign had to be run on social media because the traditional media opposed the independence.  Yep, that sounds like an American made sham election.


The biggest winner has been British democracy. More than four million Scots, 81 percent of the population, registered to vote, and the turnout on polling day was above 85 percent.


In many places it exceeded 90 percent, breaking all records, and on the island of Jura, where George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four, 100 percent of residents cast their votes.


The democratic franchise was also extended to 16- and 17-year-olds for the first time. They seized their chance, debating the issues in class and voting in their school uniforms on the way home.


That’s odd, they allowed 16- and 17-year olds to vote.  I wonder why they would change the age for voting, just for this referendum.  It’s odd because they refused to allow 1.15 million ex-Pats to vote.  From Sydney MorningHerald:



Excerpt:


Scottish expats excluded from vote on independence


London: The issue of whether Scottish expatriates should be allowed to vote on the country's future has become a source of fevered debate.


An estimated 1.15 million Scots will be watching from the sidelines on Thursday when the country decides whether or not to break away from the United Kingdom - including many high-profile campaigners such as James Bond actor Sean Connery, a pro-independence champion.


While many accept the terms of the referendum agreed by London and Edinburgh, which allows only current residents of Scotland to vote, others are furious that they will have no say on Scotland's future, with some declaring their exclusion illegal.


Don’t waste your breath, this is an American made sham election, illegal exclusion is the hallmark of “Made in America Sham Elections.”


In March, London-based solicitor Aidan O'Neill sent Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond and British Prime Minister David Cameron legal opinion arguing that the terms violated Scottish expats' right to freedom of movement under European law.


The challenge was backed by former Scotland rugby player Kenny Logan and national football manager Alex McLeish.


But the Scottish government dismissed it, saying the agreement between London and Edinburgh "has put the referendum beyond effective legal challenge".


Sounds like the corrupt U.S. Supreme Court. 


The researcher added that many expats "feel extremely aggravated" that foreign nationals resident in Scotland - some for only a matter of weeks - would have more of a say than them on Scotland's future.


Just like ACORN the group that signed up voters for Obama.  So citizens of Scotland are denied a vote, while children and foreign nationals in Scotland for a couple of weeks get to vote, I’m surprised that the “no” vote wasn’t about 90%.





So that’s how you run an American-Made Sham election.  So the American made election vultures have come home to roost and payback is a real bitch.


By Patricia Baeten

  

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