If you love food from China, if you hate Organics, you'll LOVE S 510

[truedelphi]

So apparently the economic tough times that the smaller farmers are dealing with is not enough to satisfy the Satanic Masters of the Food Industry, the Corporate Beelzebub known as Monsanto.

Never mind that with fewer people working real jobs that pay real wages, farmers are not able to prosper. When people are forced to cut back across the board, they decide to buy less at the grocery store. Although the middle men get to short change the customer, they continue to do well, but the Farmers are between the proverbial rock and the hard place.

But that worsening of the small farmers' economy is not enough for Monsanto.

So we see Bill S 510. Many on the internet are saying that by the end of the week, it will be passed. If you work for Big Pharma, or for Big Agriculture, REJOICE! But if you like to eat healthy, enjoy the food on the shelves of your grocers this week and till the bill takes effect.

After that, expect to see more imports from other nations, like China and Mexico, where the use of pesticides on food that are illegal here are permitted there.

Nine things that you need to understand about S 510:

1) Homeland Security and The Department of Defense will have increased powers over the food supply. Now theoretically, these two outfits should be allowed to have some authority over our food. For instance, if it was known that toxins were being put into foods shipped to the USA. But the type of broad and over bearing amount of controls that these two agencies will have should remind us of how we all now need to arrive at the airport several hours earlier and then we are made to take off our shoes, throw out our liquids, yet meanwhile the type of oversight that is really needed is somehow not provided. This Food Bill provides more of the same insanity.

2) It strengthens the ability of the WTO and other international agencies to have more of a say over our food in our market place. Nevermind that these agencies are actually unconstitutional - most of the politicians in Washington DC are sold out to that crowd of manipulators.

3) Codex ALlimentarius will be imposed - and this Codex has been known to destroy the ability of Europeans to have necessary vitamin and mineral supplementation. I have a friend who routinely sneaks Vitamin C in to her native Finland -as otherwise her relatives have to pay for costly vitamin prescriptions from the doctor. Those of us who rely on nutritional aids will see our abilty to obtain such wither and die out. but if you are an Executive at a Big Pharmacy firm - Hallelujah! Your profits just got increased yet again!

4) There is much discussion on the web that it will allow for the FDA to come in and destroy all the seed in the current seed banks, such as Seeds of Change.

5) The bill establishes that the small farmers and ranchers must subscribe to the NAIS regimen and the time and money they are forced to spend reporting on their livestock could put some of the smaller farmers out of business. Many have already been hurt by the failure of the Big Banks to loan out any money - but now even more farmers will go under.

6) It extends a failed and destructive HACCP to all food, thus threatening to do to all local food production and farming what HACCP did to meat production - put it in corporate hands and worsen food safety. (Back when initially passed under Bill Clinton, HACCP delighted the offending corporate (World Trade Organization “WTO”) meat packers since it allowed them to inspect themselves, eliminated thousands of local food processors (with no history of contamination), and centralized meat into their control. Monsanto promoted HACCP.

7) It deconstructs what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer. The chance to rebuild the economy based on farming, ranching, gardens, food production, natural health, and all the jobs, tools and connected occupations would be eliminated.

8) It would allows the government to mandate antibiotics, hormones, slaughterhouse waste, pesticides and GMOs. This would industrialize every farm in the US, eliminate local organic farming, greatly increase global warming from increased use of oil-based products and long-distance delivery of foods, and make food even more unsafe. The five items listed — the Five Pillars of Food Safety — are precisely the items in the food supply which are the primary source of its danger.

9) It uses food crimes as the entry into police state power and control. The bill postpones defining all the regulations to be imposed; postpones defining crimes to be punished, postpones defining penalties to be applied. It removes fundamental constitutional protections from all citizens in the country, making them subject to a corporate tribunal with unlimited power and penalties, and without judicial review. It is (similar to C-6 in Canada) the end of Rule of Law in the US.

[RandomThoughts]

1. It is incorrect to say end of rule of law.

It is end of rule of law based on Constitutional concepts, and better ideas of free societies.

However they still have not corrected the beer and travel issue, so fuck'em anyways.

They want to destroy themselves, what can you do except not be a part of it. If they are not going to listen, they will burn, at least they will know why, what can a person do.

:shrug:

[truedelphi]

3. I know from perusing the topics on this matter already on DU,

That many will say that this legislation is totally benign.

But it is to the small farmer what the "Notarization" bill was to the home owner.

If it sails through the Senate, then we have to hope we can get Obama to veto it, just as he
recently did with the "Notarization" Bill.

And your tough language in response to my OP was very much appreciated. it is easier to hang tough when you realize you are not the only one.

[gateley]

2. So this has already passed in the House? Why would anybody support this?

Any chance the Senate WON'T pass it?

This is outrageous. They're taking away our choice of FOOD for fuck sake?

[truedelphi]

4. Why do the members of the Political Class do any of the things that they do?

Why do they accept NAFTA, WTO, and the other acronym agencies? Well, maybe it is because no matter what happens it won't apply to them - they will still have filtered air and water, and the flesh of organically raised puppies fresh from the puppy farm! And if organic strawberries are $ 18 a half pound, they still can afford it, what with the cash payments from Monsato!

On the surface of it, many of these people see the "Title" of the bill, which is "Food Safety" and they think, "How can I be against "Food Safety."

But others are clearly bought out.

[gateley]

True, it's always the money, but I was thinking that there are too many good

people in the House to let this pass, too many that AREN'T getting payola. :shrug:

[Individualist]

10. Fewer and fewer elected officials are opposing government of, by and for the corporations.

[bbgrunt]

5. eeeeek! How can this be passed??? Why aren't Keith,

Rachel, Tom, Ed etc. talking about any of this?

[truedelphi]

6. I think, much like the "Notarization" bill that

ended up being vetoed by Obama, for the good of homeowners, this Bill just seems so innocuous.

I mean, Food Safety are the two key words in the title, and how in the world can anyone be against food safety!?!

[the redcoat]

7. Lovely to see bipartisan corruption.

[truedelphi]

8. It's working for them so far.

Corruption on both sides of the aisle have given us this sickened economy.

And now it is our food under attack.

But as a student of history, I get amused when I think of the fact that sooner or later, the People will get so fed up that there may be a re-do on the tearing apart of the "Customs Houses." Howard Zinn proudly told the story of such onerous fees that the folks were paying in the 1830's - so when they finally could take no more, they would gather into unruly crowds and take apart the Customs House where the Customs official lived, brick by brick, till the whole house was gone.

It may have to come to that.

[northoftheborder]

9. If this all true, this is a TERRIBLE bill.

How can I get more research on this????

[truedelphi]

14. Google is your friend.

Terms such as S 510 and '"Food Safety" + legislation' work pretty well.

Here is one article you can google:
www.grist.org/article/food-2010-11-15-food-fight-safety-modernization-act-harm-small-farms

[magdalena]

11. I sincerely want to see some evidence of all these claims.

I recently read an article that showed the amendments to this bill, and it made it sound like small farms and farms who do not conduct interstate business are exempt. At face value the bill seems like a generally good thing --- regulating the giant corporate food producers. Can you please provide some references to support your claims? I am certainly suspicious of the government at times, but even more suspicious that the biggest opponents to this bill are Drudge, FOX, Tea Partiers, Alex Jones, and the John Birch Society.

[truedelphi]

13. Okay, here's what I am considering:

When a small time farmer has a crop that people start to like and to praise, that farmer can often get some larger, more Corporate orders.

So yeah, little Peter Rabbit is growing his 60 acres and among those acres, he has some award winning vegetables. Whole Foods, the large conglomerate, let's say, shows an interest in Peter Rabbit's veggie crop.

Now it is a matter for Peter Rabbit to start to have to worry about interstate business.

Proponents of the stupid and sold out behavior of Congress, they say, "Well Peter doesn't really have to comply."

Of course not. He can choose to KEEP his crop, and have his wife freeze all the veggies, and they can donate them to the Church pantries, and they can give them to friends.

And they can go without the money they would have received from Whole Foods.

But if Peter wants the lucrative contract, he has to abide.

We have already had several SF Chronicle reporters discussing how some of the local SF Bay area farms are plowing up their crops, when inspecters notice a BIRD, one single BIRD, landing near their field. (Can I point out that birds and crops have long been an item. I mean, if you can
point to the Great American Bird Plague of say, 1859, as a way to persuade me that it is far better to have an organic farmer plow up his crop and re do it, or else face the wrath of these inspectors, maybe this will make sense to me.) The farmers don't have to do this - but if they want the people who are paying them for their crop to actually accept receipt of it, they are scared into doing it.

The small time organic farmer has always sought to have a sustainable farm. To have birds land near his fields. To have wild life in his brush and wood lands.

The Big Agro Giants have such awful systems of farming that they don't worry about birds landing. When I am forced to drive the I 5 corridor to Sacramento, for much of the drive the air smells like Paint thinner, varnish, ammonia and other nasties. (Despite the miles of farm land I see, I rarely see a bird, until I turn off on Hwy 20, where among the lush trees and untouched hillsides, I see birds and deer and other wildlife.)

But there is no manufacturing on the I 5 drive. It is just acres and acres of fields with pesticide levels that are off the charts.

BTW just because the John Birch society is against stupidity hidden inside certain legislation, does that mean that I must be for it?

[truedelphi]

15. Oh and BTW, sadly, it was the Republicans in California who organized

The public to examine what the MTBE gas additive was doing to people's health and to the water.

Due to the tremendous public opinion that the Republicans orchestrated, Gov Davis, A Democrat, put together one of the few honest and independent science panels in recent history. For that he was driven out of office, but not until after MTBE was taken out of the gas in those higher percentages where it did so much harm.

[laughingliberal]

17. No, Tester is still fighting to get his amendment to exempt small farmers in the bill.

Tester's amendment, which would exempt some smaller farms from the bill's requirements, has gained support among grassroots advocates for buying food produced locally. While the bill is designed to give the Food and Drug Administration greater authority over the nation's food supply, supporters of the Tester amendment say it could bankrupt some small farms that don't have the means to comply with new standards the bill would impose.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/food-safety-bill-congress-senate-local-food-locavores_n_784744.html

[truedelphi]

19. Thanks for posting this link to the Tester amendment.

The amendment is a big help, but doesn't do enough.

And worst of all, it might not be included!

[Octafish]

12. This is a job for the US-China Chamber of Commerce

Thank you infinitely for the heads-up on Monsanto and their cronies in Congress, truedelphi!

It deconstructs what is left of the American economy. It takes agriculture and food, which are the cornerstone of all economies, out of the hands of the citizenry, and puts them under the total control of multinational corporations influencing the UN, WHO, FAO and WTO, with HHS, and CDC, acting as agents, with Homeland Security as the enforcer.

Will add Food Crime to Thought Crime. Jim Hightower adds here: Corporate Flimflammers in Our Communities and Congress.

Only, it's not. It's a Wal-Mart. Yes, the $400-billion-a-year retail behemoth, with 2 million employees laboring in 8,500 stores spread around the globe, now is putting on a "local" mask. The giant is promising to buy 9 percent of the produce it'll sell from local farmers. Big whoopie. This means that 91 percent of the foodstuffs offered in its "Neighborhood" chain will come from Wayawayland. Wal-Mart is to local what near beer is to beer. Near beer is not beer ... and Wal-Mart is not local.

And, of course, the nice man who helped finance Wal-Mart, Mr. Jackson Stephens,also served to help foist upon America the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, BCCI.

Senate Bill 510's proponents on both sides of the aisle certainly are Satanic: The China-Bush Axis.

and more on our transnational corporate overlords:

Olympic Games Show Who’s Best Friends Forever with Authoritarians and Dictators.

And, thus, the Great Slave Trade continues.



And the Slaves Remain Ignorant of their Condition.

[truedelphi]

16. Great post, Octafish.

Although there are far too many references to the Political Family whose Name We Must Not speak,
(At least, if we want to avoid feelings of nausea, contempt, and restless, non specific HORROR)
I guess those are necessary ones.

Great work, as always.

[laughingliberal]

18. +1000 nt

[truedelphi]

20. And of course, Wall Street will not be unhappy at all about this passing

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4617598&mesg_id=4617616

[superduperfarleft]

21. Do you have a link to anything?

Because what you said about Codex A is complete and utter bullshit.

[truedelphi]

22. Glad you asked.

41 words inside S 510 would make the US subject to CETA.

1.

COMPLIANCE WITH INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

Nothing in this Act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be construed in a manner inconsistent with the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization or any other treaty or international agreement to which the United States is a party.


The significance of those words in S 510 is that they would end the Uruguay Round Agreement Act of 1994, which put US sovereignty and US law under perfect protection. Under S 510, US law would become subservient to the WTO, a corporate organization. Votes in the US would not matter. The decisions on food, energy, health, resources, and US economic policy would be made the very corporations responsible for contaminating food, oil spills, dangerous drugs, theft of common resources, and destroying the economy. The enforcement powers created by S 510 (assuming it resembles other "food safety" bills) would be unlimited and apply to everyone in the country who "holds" food (does anyone not?).

S 510, a "food safety" bill, would (using sections from other food safety bills) set up a corporate court outside the constitutional court system. The expectation is that it would be run by Monsanto, just as "food safety" at the FDA is now, with Monsanto involved at every level. It would exist without Congressional oversight, with unlimited and unspecified remedies, "in addition to, and not exclusive of, other remedies that may be available," and without judicial review over even "the validity and appropriateness of the order ..."

That upturning of all sense (orders that don't have to be appropriate or valid) is a window into the extremity of power being sought by the corporations through S 510. That power would include total discretion to punish anyone they may wish. And in removing appropriateness and validity, their orders would not have to relate to food at all and could be used against anyone, applying any form of "remedy" they desire. Nothing whatever is excluded.

Full article is here:

yupfarming.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html

[superduperfarleft]

23. Well, that's something. It still doesn't answer my question about your assertion

that the Codex is this massive NWO-style government conspiracy to make supplements prohibitively expensive.

edit: And I'm not just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking, but all of the sources that have been getting hysterical about this bill for, I don't know, more than a year say the same thing about Codex, and their source is usually one single release from a while back from the John Birch Society. So it, in my opinion, calls the validity of your entire OP into question.

[truedelphi]

24. Well my friend, the internet is your friend.

Google is your friend.

I was lucky enough to be on the Board of the Health Council of Marin for at least five years, and due to that very liberal, granola eating organization, I heard many fine and quite qualified speakers from all over the world, on subjects ranging from vaccines, to the dangers of plastic in food containers, to Codex.

I cannot replicate everything I learned there today, but you could undertake the study of these topics.

[superduperfarleft]

26. Already have. And I'm not particularly worried about advisory guidelines on another continent.

Nor am I worried about the supply of my vegan multivitamins. :shrug:

[truedelphi]

27. Also checkout my remark number 25 as to the Bill's most recent modification. n/t

[truedelphi]

25. S 5210 has now supposedly been modified so it will not force compliance with Codex Alimentarius.

(or so they say.)

However, there are still eight reasons why it is not a good idea.

For more on the modification, another DU'er has posted this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x95869

[RainDog]

29. k&r n/t

[laughingliberal]

30. Thank you for posting this. nt

[felix_numinous]

28. The satanic masters of the universe are trying to kill us all.

How else can we look at laws like this? If they kill the seeds of change seed bank, they would be committing genocide of the food plant world, not to mention medicinals. This is truly evil stuff.

Then people need to seriously start buying up heirloom variety seeds, as many as possible, from seeds of change.

[truedelphi]

31. Some people really believe that Monsanto is behind this bill.

Monsanto and the other big GM Agri Firms have been buying up any seed banks they can get their hands on and destroying all the seeds.

One of these Big Firms bought out Hartz Mountain, the bird seed chain, maybe a decade ago. The first thing they did was to pulverize and incinerate the seeds in Hartz Mountain's Seed bank.

It doesn't even make sens that they would do that, does it?

[Quantess]

32. K & R

[Greyhound]

33. I wish I could do more than give this a K&R. n/t

[glinda]

34. So where is the Petition to oppose this???