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More GMO Labeling

Before we receive an update from Organic Bytes, I just want to say a huge thank-you to the many companies that are starting to label their products "Non-GMOs."  It's one less call I have to make and I am so grateful knowing that some companies feel we are worth it to not harm us with GMO's.  I found one that even offers NonGMOed soy!!!!  If a company doesn't say "non-GMOs" then assume that company uses GMO contaminated seeds and don't buy them.  When you think about it, we don't need a product to be labeled as having GMOs.  These psychopaths can't win if we don't give our hard earned money for products that aren't labeled GMO-free. Subscribe & Read Past Issues | OCA Homepage | Donate  ESSAY OF THE WEEK   We Know Who You Are: 71 Senators Reject States' Rights to Label GMOs On the eve of a worldwide protest against Monsanto, 71 U.S. senators voted against an amendment to the Senate version of the 2013 Farm Bill that would have guaranteed states the right to enact mandatory GMO (genetically modified organism) labeling laws. Seventy-one Senators voted against you, the 90 percent of consumers who have said that you want labels on foods containing genetically engineered (GE) ingredients. Seventy-one Senators – including 43 Republican so-called defenders of states’ rights - voted against your state’s Constitutional Tenth Amendment right to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens and local businesses. We know who those Senators are. And we plan to make certain that everyone who cares about food safety and food sovereignty knows who they are, too. Read the essay Tell your Senators what you think ACTION ALERT With Friends Like These . . . How Will States Label GMOs? TAKE ACTION: Tell Your Congress Member: Reject the King Amendment and any other rider or amendment to the Farm Bill that would take away states’ rights to label GMOs! With 71 senators on record opposing state labeling laws, the potential for a rider or amendment to the Farm Bill that would wipe out states’ rights to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) looms even larger. On Wednesday, May 15, the House Ag Committee passed the King Amendment, a measure some say could take away states’ rights to label GMOs. If the King Amendment survives to the final version of the Farm Bill 2013, and is passed by Congress, some say it could preempt states’ rights to label GMOs. And if it doesn’t, will another rider or amendment be introduced into the final bill that would threaten state labeling laws? Some in Congress would have us believe that state labeling laws are too messy – we must reject them in favor of a federal labeling law. But that’s just stonewalling. We all know that a federal law is unlikely, given the revolving door between biotech and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA). And any law signed off on by Congress and the FDA would be a flimsy, loophole-ridden measure written by biotech and Big Food. The OCA is calling on consumers to tell their Congress members to reject any rider or amendment that would preempt state’s rights to label GMOs. We’re also hosting a Twitter Rally to generate buzz and let Congress know that we expect them to uphold states’ rights to label GMOs! Join us on Thursday, June 6 at 5 p.m. PST under the hashtag #LabelGMOs. Login to twitter and type #LabelGMOs into your twitter search browser. From there you can follow the rally conversation and join in by adding #LabelGMOs to the end of your tweet. ACTION ALERT Good Ole’ Boys Block Repeal of Monsanto Protection Act TAKE ACTION: Write and Call Your Senators to Demand a Vote to Repeal the Monsanto Protection Act Surprise. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo), with a little help from his friend, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss, pictured), last week blocked an amendment to the Senate version of the Farm Bill that would have repealed the Monsanto Protection Act. (Sen. Blunt helped write the Monsanto Protection Act, and then slipped it into the Continuing Resolution, an emergency spending bill passed by Congress in March.) Fortunately, the author of the amendment, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore) isn’t giving up. Neither are we. What to do? You can start by calling Sens. Blunt (202-224-5721) and Cochran (202-224-5054). Tell them you want a full debate and vote on the Merkley amendment. Here’s what Merkley said about the Monsanto Protection Act: It raises profound questions about the constitutional separation of powers and the ability of our courts to hold agencies accountable to the law and their responsibilities. I can tell you that this process and this policy has provoked outrage across the country. Please call Senators Cochran (202-224-5054) and Blunt (202-224-5721) today! Learn more TAKE ACTION: Write and Call Your Senators to Demand a Vote to Repeal the Monsanto Protection Act SUPPORT THE OCA & OCF Two Steps Back. Full Speed Ahead. It was one of those weeks. Last week, Senators voted overwhelmingly against an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have guaranteed states’ rights to label GMOs. Two senators blocked an amendment to the Farm Bill that would have repealed the Monsanto Protection Act. Two steps back. But there was good news, too. More than two million people across the globe marched against Monsanto. And the New York Times reported that food companies big and small are struggling to replace genetically modified ingredients with conventional ones – that’s good news, because it means that food companies are responding to consumers’ demands for non-GMO foods. There will always be setbacks. Whether we’re fighting for GMO labeling laws, or the preservation of organic standards. Whether we’re fighting against fracking and factory farms, or for stricter regulations on pesticides. The victories, large and small, inspire us. The setbacks reignite our passions, sharpen our focus. And propel us forward. With your help, it’s full speed ahead. Thank you! Donate to the Organic Consumers Fund (non-tax-deductible, but necessary for our legislative efforts in Washington, Vermont and other states) If you need your donation to be tax-deductible, you can donate to the Organic Consumers Association (tax-deductible, helps support our work on behalf of organic standards, fair trade and public education) NEW REPORT ‘Broken’ Food Safety System: One More Reason to Avoid Meat from Factory Farms Cockroaches on the floor where hogs are slaughtered. Fecal material on the carcasses of hogs allegedly already cleaned. Still-conscious hogs plunged into scalding water. You would think an agency whose tagline is “Protecting Public Health through Food Safety and Defense” wouldn’t tolerate any of the above. But according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Office of the Inspector General, the agency’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has allowed all of the above, and more. Repeatedly. In hundreds of slaughterhouses. Bruce Friedrich, Senior Director for Strategic Initiatives at Farm Sanctuary, said this in an article about the report: Every year according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), there are tens of millions of cases of food poisoning, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and thousands of deaths. The agency charged with reducing these numbers is doing, according to its Office of the Inspector General, a pathetically bad job. Whether you’re concerned about your health, or the wellbeing of the animals killed for your food – or both – this report underscores why eating meat that comes from factory farms is risky. And it’s just another example of how the USDA places the interest of Big Ag over public health. Read Friedrich’s article Read the study Take the pledge to boycott factory farms ACTION UPDATE March Against Monsanto Goes Mainstream The goal was numbers. The object was attention and education. By all measures, the March against Monsanto was a success. On Saturday, May 25, an estimated two million protesters from 436 cities, 58 countries and six continents hit the streets in protest of the world’s most hated corporation. The message from seniors, Vietnam vets, mothers, grandmothers, farmers and consumer activists, from nearly every corner of the globe, was clear: Monsanto’s control of the global food system threatens food safety, biodiversity and food sovereignty. The list of participating cities included: New York, Miami, Florida, Portland (on both coasts), Philadelphia, Detroit, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Des Moines, Tokyo, Japan, Barcelona, Spain, Cincinnati, Denver, San Francisco, Albuquerque, Brussels, Las Vegas, Vienna, Austria, Seattle, Cairo, Egypt, and hundreds of others, large and small, representing every region of the world. It was enough to make mainstream media stand up and take note. Stories ran in major newspapers. The Associated Press reported on the march. CNN ran a full seven-minute segment. What’s next? On July 4th, Moms Across America (MAA) will march in Independence Day parades across the country in support of GMO labeling. And March against Monsanto 2.0 has already been scheduled for May 24, 2014. Congratulations to all the organizers and thanks to all of you who marched! Check out OCA’s March against Monsanto video playlist Watch OCA’s Zack Kaldveer at the San Francisco rally Read more here, here and here.   American Meat: Brought to You by Farmers “The film makes a powerfully persuasive case for the benefits of small, grass-based organic farms and local sourcing…. it presents its arguments forcefully but without strident didacticism.” – Fred Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter Ever wonder what it’s like to run a huge feedlot or a Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)? Curious about the alternatives to factory farms, and whether alternative models can really feed the world’s growing population? American Meat, a documentary produced primarily by farmers, explores these questions and more. The DVD won’t be released to the public until later this year. But you can purchase a limited edition DVD now for $20. And when you do, the documentary’s producers will donate $2 to the OCA. Details here LITTLE BYTES Essential Reading for the Week Havana Organic Coop Farm Sets a Model for Health and Sustainability Russia Warns Obama: Global War Over “Bee Apocalypse” Coming Soon The New Farm Bill Is an Economic Disaster How I Got Hooked on Weeds – and Why You Should, Too Get Apocalyptic: Why Radical is the New Normal Decline in Biodiversity of Farmed Plants, Animals Gathering Pace MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSORS 'Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth' is now available from Chelsea Green Publishing “In Cows Save the Planet, Judith Schwartz takes us on a fascinating, John McPhee-style journey into the world of soil rehabilitation. The eclectic group of farmers, ranchers, researchers, and environmentalists she visits have one thing in common: they all believe in the importance of organic matter in the soil for solving our most pressing environmental issues. Some of the innovative techniques they use to increase the vitality of their soil include no-tillage, using deep-rooted perennial grasses, cover crops, mulching, and, surprisingly, grazing large herds of animals according to a program called ‘holistic management.’ Imagine, a book about soil that’s a real page turner!” — Larry Korn, editor of The One-Straw Revolution and Sowing Seeds in the Desert, by Masanobu Fukuoka Learn more!  follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | OCA on Pinterest  | Donate Please forward this publication to family and friends, place it on web sites, print it, duplicate it and post it freely. Knowledge is power! Organic Bytes is a publication of Organic Consumers Association 6771 South Silver Hill Drive - Finland, MN 55603 - Phone: 218-226-4164 - Fax: 218-353-7652

Manipulative Teachers

My daughter has attended a middle school for three very long years where their accelerated program has been way over the top and ridiculous.  Kids, especially those in drama, spent many nights up until two in the morning doing homework.  A teacher recently showed fictitious movies in class and still assigned homework!  I would have preferred the break from homework, since it has been assigned nightly regardless of holidays or weekends, and had the work at school and the movies at home. 

I wanted to share with you a subtle, nasty plan that was executed today by my daughter's Science teacher since it is typical.  Many students in Mrs. C's classes are in drama and so were absent from class today due to performing for the school.  Mrs. C brought out the test papers from yesterday and announced that all who graded their own tests would receive extra points.  It is yet another stab at the kids who value other activities as well as academics.  From a Negative Entity encapsulator (ghost buster) point of view, she, the teacher, is getting off on the power she is having over the kids who were not in her class today.  It's a power trip at their expense.  Why can't she acknowledge how much time these kids give to their elective instead of constantly punishing them?  Well, I know part of the answer at least.  She needed a feeding!

So much for thinking you can send your kid off to school where they will find an organized, nurturing, knowledgeable teacher!  Instead, many find a hungry Negative Entity hiding within the teacher starving for energy.  Your kid is then served up.  Of course, those kids today who are able to not let her nastiness effect them will be fine.  Unfortunately, some of the drama kids feel placed between a rock and a hard place and are sorry they missed the bonus for attendance.

The Egg Bill: the Kindness of Humanity

Here's some FYI occurring in America.

"The Rotten Egg Bill aka “The Screaming Hen Bill”
Needs Our Help To Be Defeated!

“This legislation puts cages in place, puts them in law. That’s a huge cave-in . . .” – Joe Miller, attorney for Rose Acre Farms Battery Cage Hen Operation, 2nd largest egg producer in the U.S., 2013.
United Poultry Concerns opposes the EGG PRODUCTS INSPECTION ACT AMENDMENTS OF 2013. We oppose legislation that benefits egg producers and legally condemns hens to living in cages.
Before you read further, please watch “Normal and Natural,” a short video by Edgar’s Mission in Australia
Facts:
The Egg Bill would legalize and legitimize cages for hens
What is an enriched cage?
Helping Hens or Benefiting Their Abusers?
What Should I Do?

In “Agreement Raises Flags for Egg-Laying Hens” published in 2012, United Poultry Concerns reviewed the effort by animal advocates to ban cages for egg-laying hens in Europe and the United States. In 2011, a pact between The Humane Society of the United States and United Egg Producers frustrated this effort, which also failed in the European Union when a law went into effect January 1, 2012 banning conventional barren battery cages while legalizing “enriched” or “furnished” battery cage systems for hens in the EU.

Following suit, the alliance between HSUS and UEP led to legislation before Congress in 2012. The Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments of 2012 (The “Egg Bill”) sought to legalize cages for egg-laying hens, prevent voters from initiating ballots to ban cages in their own state, and prohibit states from passing stronger welfare laws than those set in the Egg Bill.

Last year’s bills failed but are once again before Congress. Under the terms of the 2013 Egg Bill sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Rep. Curt Schrader of Oregon, barren battery cages would be phased out over a 20-year period and replaced by “enriched” cages as the dominant housing system for hens in the United States.

The Egg Bill would legalize and legitimize cages for hens

Since cages are the cheapest way to mass-produce billions of eggs for consumers, the majority of the 280 million hens in U.S. facilities will continue to be caged in long windowless buildings just as they are now, under the proposed law.

This year’s Egg Bill is even worse than last year’s: one of the worst exemptions allows the toxic excretory ammonia levels of 25 parts per million in confined-hen buildings to reach even higher levels of toxicity to accommodate egg industry “emergencies” of unspecified duration. The toxic ammonia the Egg Bill permits constitutes animal cruelty even without cages.

What is an enriched cage?

In her forthcoming book Chickens’ Lib: The Story of a Campaign, Clare Druce, founder of Chickens’ Lib in England in the 1970s, summarizes in "Enriched" Cages – A Gaping Loophole in the "Welfare" Law for Egg-Laying Hens in the European Union:

Basically it’s still a battery cage, the birds living behind bars on metal grid flooring, the cages stacked up in tiers, many thousands of hens to a building. Compared to the old-style cage, there’s mandatory additional floor space per hen measuring roughly the size of a postcard, bringing the entire minimum space per hen to 750 square centimeters (116 square inches), little more than a sheet of paper.

The cages must include a perch, a “nest” box and a scratch pad. The term “nest box” sounds comforting, Clare says. “But in the enriched cage context it is simply a curtained area, behind which the hen finds the same sloping cage floor, the metal grid now covered in matting of some kind. Not a wisp of straw, no soft material with which to arrange her nest. Some of the enriched colony cages I saw held up to 60 hens. Gleaming metal cages stretched away into the distance, and there was that familiar unending clamor of frustrated hens’ voices.”

Helping Hens or Benefiting Their Abusers?
Under the terms of the Egg Bill, the majority of hens will remain in cages. They will be locked into a federal law administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture which doesn’t even enforce the 55-year-old “Humane Slaughter Act,” from which birds are excluded.

At most, brown hens, being slightly larger than the white hens who represent the majority of egg-laying hens in the United States, may within 20 years get a maximum of 144 square inches apiece, or one square foot of living space per hen. The white hens will max out at 124 square inches per hen, well below a square foot, even though a hen needs a minimum 1.5 square foot, or 216 square inches, merely to engage in minimal “normal behavior.”

Whether the Egg Bill would ban starvation molting of hens is a question. The ammonia cave-in and the cage cave-in show how capitulation to egg industry economics and “emergencies” will likely influence the bill as it moves through the legislative process to its final, eviscerated form.

The claim that the proposed legislation would ban inhumane methods of “euthanasia” is totally false. Spent hens are just piles of garbage – a costly nuisance – to egg producers, to be gotten rid of any old way. Like the male chicks of the egg industry who are trashed as soon as they are born, their sisters are a waste product to this industry as soon as they lay fewer eggs. Gassing hens to death with CO2 in metal boxes is NOT EUTHANASIA!

What Should I Do?

United Poultry Concerns opposes the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments. We oppose legislation that benefits egg producers and legally condemns hens to living in cages. With Congress set to consider the Farm Bill shortly, please notify your U.S. Senators and Representatives that you oppose the Egg Products Inspection Act Amendments. Call them at (202) 224-3121. Urge them to oppose this legislation and briefly and clearly explain your reason.

Thank you for taking action.

To view Humane Farming Association's animated video A Cage Is A Cage and learn more, please visit: StopTheRottenEggBill.org.

To learn more about enriched cages and why sanctuaries oppose them, see “Enriched” Cages for Egg-Laying Hens in the US and EU by United Poultry Concerns."

Family Fun

International Speed Stacking Pitch Perfect style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFy14GpsngY

A 2013 First Integrated Dance: Compassion & Community

I wonder sometimes how selfish, arrogant, and uncaring we must look to those who wish to enslave us.  We probably seem a lot like them in our cold-blooded approach to one another as if we're not even humans.   We don't slow down to a safe stop to let a waiting car into our lane even though we have a red light, we use skin color as a gauge to sort people into catagories, we do strange things to our bodies through foods, or lack of, and under the knife to cut and tuck parts of ourselves that we deem wrong. My daughter's school is performing "Hairspray" for their spring musical this year.  These kids naively think that segregated dances are a thing of the past, most likely because they have "history" books telling them how things were and are rather than investigating for themselves.   Whether driving in our cars, looking at another, or looking at ourselves in a mirror, it's time to practice compassion and community thinking.  It's time to not only seem like we stand together, we need to stand together right now. The following is from: http://abcnews.go.com/m/blogEntry?id=19061980&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2F%3Fm%3Dsp "Wilcox County Students Hold School's First Integrated Prom

ABC News

Apr 29, 2013, 12:06 PM

For any teenager, prom is a monumental night, but for students at a Georgia high school, it has been more than 40 years in the making.
For the first time ever, students at Wilcox County High School, in Rochelle, Ga. danced together at a prom that wasn't segregated.
For decades, the school board has avoided officially endorsing prom festivities, instead relying on parents to host and control invitations leading to year after year of two dances - one for white students, and one for the black students.
Students have lobbied over the years to end the practice. This year, a group of Wilcox County seniors decided to take matters into their own hands.

The four girls, two black and two white, created a Facebook page asking for support and donations to fund an independent bash open to all.
"We were doing that so we could get the word out, so that some people would be able to donate and help us out with what we were doing," said senior Mareshia Rucker.
On Saturday night, nearly half of the school's student body came out to the event.
"Hopefully when everything is said and done, people in our county will really realize, that there is no sense in the way things are right now," Rucker told ABC News affiliate WGXA.
Despite this year's groundbreaking integrated dance, once again this year there was a segregated prom attended only by white students.
It wasn't an officially sanctioned event, but a private one organized by white parents."