Weatherford Daily News - Weatherford,OK

Largest Hidden Tax and Shifting of Wealth in this Nation�s History

Hal Spake sees National Animal Identification System NAIS for what it is�the largest hidden tax and shifting of wealth in this Nation�s History.  Undo burden of the small, independent grower and massive rewards for the elite.   Actual harm to food safety through concentrating the growing of food into factory farms making our food a terrorist dream target while fossil fuel transportation costs rise in distribution of the food supply.   Local growers are less fossil fuel dependent and better for the environment.  Clearly given a choice local supply is favored by consumers and trace back is immediate and localized using present, proven methods which are cost effective as oppose to NAIS which is not even designed to prevent disease only trace it once it happens.   

The USDA states that their authority to implement Farm Premise Identification (FPI) and NAIS is derived from the Animal Health Protection Act (AHPA), which was a part of the 2002 Farm Bill. Although the AHPA does not give the Secretary of Agriculture express consent to establish NAIS, it does give the Secretary of Agriculture unprecedented power to make warrantless searches, arrest individuals, and issue fines for up to $500,000 for being �about to� violate a mandate of the Secretary of Agriculture. AHPA tramples many principles enshrined in the Constitution. Placing such power in the hands of an appointed individual is unprecedented in United States history.    Reality is this is a bad trade agreement under the WTO attacking our constitution and sovereignty.

Big Agri-businesses? The Agribusiness is the big winners. They expect a surge in profits from meat exports to foreign markets, tag sales and database management.   Yet, the USA imports twice as much meat as exported unlabeled as to Country Of Origin Label or (COOL) which corporate ag does not want you to know.  COOL is law and ignored by USDA.  Japan and most Euro Countries test at packers for safety.   Nor do they want you to know that imported meat hurts US growers and your quality of choice.   NAIS will not stop e-coli or other packer problems, as this is a processing problem not a grower problem.  NAIS is not designed to prevent disease at all only lay the liability anywhere but corporate ag.

Terrorists? Terrorists will be delighted to have larger targets. They want a high body count for their efforts. Hitting a small farm is not impressive and does not affect very many people. A factory farm with 100,000 animals is a hot target!

How NAIS will HURT the non-farmer

NAIS imposes a lot of new, additional expenses on farmers. This will drive up the cost of meat, milk, ice cream, leather and other animal products. The extra burden on farmers will eliminate smaller operations, reducing your choices at the supermarket as control of our national food supply is concentrated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporate factory farms.Lack of competition reduces incentive for excellence. (�You don�t like it? So what? You want to buy from someone else? There IS no someone else!�) Monopolies are bad for business and bad for consumers. That is why they are illegal.                   Translation:     Poorer quality: higher price.

If all this technology can be tracked by USDA through private held government contracted databases today, someone else can track it tomorrow or it can be lost, stolen or sold under the table.  The USDA has already agreed to share this information database with other countries. We are setting ourselves up for MASSIVE INSTANT attack through veins we are opening in our national infrastructure.  If you or your children want to have a pet bunny, duckling, or pony, you get to join the overburdened ranks of the farmers and livestock owners, and make record keeping and fee paying a big part of your life. Even a single egg hen means you'll have to buy a Premise ID every year, tag and track your chicken and file reports with the government. Corporate Ag does not have to get individual tags but lot numbers.   

You get to live with the destruction of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, as NAIS is in violation of no less than six Constitutional Amendments and Rights.   Year after year fees, fines, restrictions, and/or regulations will be added to the premise id and it will be a nightmare.   Ever seen a government program not go wild on costs�.

Vegetarians & Gardeners? Virtually all of the animal manures used to grow quality vegetables, especially organic ones, come from small farms.  Suitable manure is already in short supply. You do not want to grow organic or healthy vegetables in the contaminated septic output from factory farms with their antibiotic, chemical wormers and arsenic laced feeds. As small farms are lost, the price of manure will increase raising vegetable prices for everyone.   Water is contaminated from concentrated factory farms. 

One sheet of paper can not deal with all the damage that Farm Premise ID and NAIS will do to destroy the constitutional rights of our nation much less the cost and harm to our food supply.   www.nonais.org   and www.stopanimalid can bring you up to speed.   There is a solution�

What is the solution?  First Elect Hal Spake as your voice in stopping the revolving door between USDA and Corporate Powers.   Hal Spake will be your voice to respect property rights, real food security and choice, honesty in labeling of products such as COOL plus represent you in Congress not sell out to corporate interests.

You are the key to turning things around.