18 May 2006
An Opportunity to Stop the Madness

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) has introduced an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill (H.R.5384) that will defund the USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) effectively blocking the USDA from implementing NAIS. Because the USDA is giving federal money to states to fund the state level Premises ID and NAIS this will effectively block virtually all development of NAIS in all fifty states. The vote is tomorrow, Thursday, May 18th, 2006.

And now I'm going to beg for a donation. No, don't hit the donate button to the left, what I'm after is your support on this. If you live in the US (or if you're a US citizen resident in foreign parts) please call your Congresscritter and ask them to vote for Rep. Paul's amendment.

If NAIS proceeds unchecked, it could quite literally be the death knell for Hammerstead Farms - and many other small farms and ranches around the nation. If you value your food supply, if you value American agricultural independence, or, Hel, if you just like reading my rants, get a hold of your representative and urge him to support this amendment.

End of begging...

Update: According to Ron Paul’s office the vote has been put off until next week. This gives you more time to get a hold of your Congressman... do it!

10:26 /Agriculture | 2 comments | permanent link

How do children learn about science and God?

Maybe there's hope for the kids of right wing religious wingnuts, after all!

A review of research in this month's Child Development addresses the differences between how children acquire scientific understanding versus spiritual understanding. Children learn about the things they cannot see based upon how teaching about these concepts occurs. For instance, if adults strenuously assert the existence of God, children may be more likely to question the existence of this intangible entity.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

07:19 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link

Not easy being green

At least you can reuse wine bottles in California: in Indiana it's illegal to reuse milk bottles or egg cartons without practically remanufacturing them. Or even glass jars. In fact, it's probably prohibitively expensive to reuse any commercial packaging, commercially. And I've got wonder how much of the notorious waste generated by the packaging industry is really an effect of these insane governmental "health regulations".

Or maybe I should be wondering how much the packaging industry paid the legislatures to put them in place.

Once upon a time, the eco-friendly practice of reusing wine bottles was commonplace. So why has it fallen by the wayside?

(link) [Los Angles Times]

via MyAppleMenu:Reader

07:15 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

State’s waists wider, lungs blacker

Joe CamelNot only are we getting fatter, we're smoking more! How can this be? I don't get it. From the article:

"The same survey showed that 27.3 percent of Hoosiers said they smoked last year, up from 24.8 percent in 2004."

Maybe we're smoking more because it's mandatory in restaurants. Maybe it's all the "Start Smoking Now" programs we're putting into schools. Or maybe it's all the Joe Camel ads on television ...oh, wait a second! I may be missing something here!

We must be smoking more because of all the stress over daylight savings time.

(Let me sincerely apologize if any of the sarcasm from this post dripped from your screen to your keyboard and gummed things up.)

Long considered among the nation’s most unfit citizens, Indiana residents are apparently losing ground in the battle against obesity, smoking and other unhealthy behavior, according to a new survey.

(link) [FortWayne.com]

via Masson's Blog

06:56 /Politics | 3 comments | permanent link