“When the government controls your food supply, they control you.” — Senator Robin Webb
Go here to listen @ minute 67:47 till 108:13. Good times!
http://www.ket.org/cgi-bin/cheetah/watch_video.pl?nola=WGAOS+013102&altdir=&template=
NOTE: Friday’s proceedings appear to be mislabeled on the KET website: the House proceedings are labeled Senate and vice versa. If the direct link above does not work, go here [http://www.ket.org/legislature/archives.php] and click on [Feb 10 House Chambers]. Please don’t yell at me if they correct this between now and when you go to listen!!!
Senator Schickel, the bill’s courageous sponsor, gave a perfectly lovely and spot on introduction: “This bill…Madam President, simply clears up any confusion. Everything in this bill is already legal.” And a little later on: “Who should make the decision of what my children should eat?” And my personal favorite: “This is a property rights issue.”
Senator Schickel obviously gets it. Big time. He also didn’t back down to ye olde “what about the children?” scare tactic.* Bravo!
Senator Leeper was well-prepared with numbers and logic. Beautiful!
Senator Thayer (“I’m for freedom.”), Senator Seum (“I’m with the other Senators here talking about freedom…”), Senator Webb (“We have an overzealous regulatory authority on the federal and sometimes the state level that lose sight of their mission…”), all spoke lucidly, personally and passionately on behalf of the bill.
Please thank them all!
While I was listening, I became more resolved than ever to be VERY, VERY CAREFUL when I (re)elect a representative. They are making decisions about my natural rights, what goes on my dinner table, in my body, my access to certain foods, how I parent. Scary.
Community Farm Alliance has a complete and excellent report, including who voted how and what’s happening next. You can read that here: [http://communityfarmalliance.org/?p=1322]
Enjoy!
P.S. It does not appear to me that any loophole, CAFO or otherwise, was addressed in the bill before the vote. What was that about?
*Every single one of us cares about our children. But when an idea is opposed, trotting out “what about the children” can be a pretty persuasive tactic, even if there is no evidence to back it up. As Senator Leeper so factually pointed out, all foods are dangerous, including spinach, cantaloupe and hamburger. Raw milk is tame in comparison.
