Bodgy wrote:
Bodgy wrote:
You'll have to pay for the water (rain) that falls on your land soon.
(I'm only half kidding)
Since no-one ran with this, I'll show you why I wasn't really joking...
http://digitaljournal.com/article/329723http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... er/4314447http://www.naturalnews.com/036615_Orego ... lture.htmlI also recall that years ago some South American country had privatised its water and was trying to charge people a fee based on rainfall in their area and the area of the property owned. Not sure how that went or where it was though.
I think it was Bolivia - the people took to the sgtreets and at least the first time, I think the Govt decided to circumvent the obvious burgeoning revolution and kicked the Corporation who had been given ownership out of the country.
I have a vague impression it happened again though. The US Govt would not take lightly the reversal of a decision to grant a US Corporation ownership of a country's resources. I'd have to look up details though - it was a few years back.
Bill 510 - FDA Food Safety Modernization Act in the US raised concerns about Federal laws governing the backyard food production that has been slowly spreading across the US. Amendments were added to the bill to try to alleviate the growing public/internet/blogger concerns, but unfortunately, while a person with faith in the goodness of politicians and lawyers would look at the amendments and think the situation had been dealt with, the wording is vague enough that it doesn't actually exempt backyards at all.
One way in is to look at the pollution raining down in city areas (and increasingly in rural areas) and declare the backyard food 'not safe' at which point the Feds can move in and remove the plants, fine the owners and in case of recalcitrance, arrest them.
Some local Govts are already in on the act; a guy in Orlando in FL and a woman in Michigan have been fined for going vegetables in their yards - pretty sure it was front yards but again, it was a while back & I'd have to search for details.
The other way, far more insidious but less likely to raise side issues about Corporations polluting the land, is to bring the FBI in on things. Here's the scenario - the FBI has a brief to get involved anywhere actions might infringe on interstate trade. Even if a guy grows food just for himself (& family) it means he does not buy as much food from the supermarkets. Most food in the US is transhipped across borders - maybe for exactly this reason...
So the local guy, with his reduced expenditure on store-bought food, is infringing on interstate trade; under the letter of the law, the FBI can turn up and arrest him, remove his crop and even poison the dirt so he cannot grow anything there.
Now it may not happen, but when have any of us seen a Govt or Dept with a given power NOT exercise that power? Even if just to set precedent.
And there is more... another bills, Bill 875 - Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 establishes a Food Safety Admin dept - is something wrong with the FDA, an extant Dept already funded?
Quote:
To establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes.
Bill 510 also went through a convoluted path - not only did it need to be modified to assuage the concerns of the public and others, it could not pass in Congress because and I quote, "it is a revenue-raising bill" - all such bills must originate in the House and 510 was from the Senate. So they concocted Bill 2751, which appears to be a catchall for anything they might have problems with - it has had numerous titles...
Quote:
Popular: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act as introduced.
Short: Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act as introduced.
Official: To accelerate motor fuel savings nationwide and provide incentives to registered owners of high polluting automobiles to replace such automobiles with new fuel efficient and less polluting automobiles. as introduced.
Short: Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act as passed house.
Official: An act to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of the food supply. as amended by senate.
Short: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act as passed senate.
and eventually became the last one, designed to give extra powers to the FDA. Note my comment above - now there's a new FSA and increase of power for the FDA...
This seems a strange route for what would seem, on the face of things, to be a logical step in protecting the food supply in the US from attack.
Personally I have looked at Govt bills with a jaundiced eye ever since I first read the FOI act here in Australia - far from giving us the right to information, it removed the right we had all along - or rather, the Govt, none of the western 'Democratic' Govts, EVER had the right to withhold information from citizens, even for National Security - they were, after all, employees of the people, and servants to the public.
FOI acts around the world, for the first time, put legal backing behind Govts saying, "no, you can't see that" and even put a 30 year minimum in place, which of course can be extended at will... BY THE GOVT. That act removed the Govt from our oversight - the People no longer are entitled to know what their Govt is doing.
Once you look at the FOI process, with a clear eye, you will begin to see all the other acts by Govts in a different light. Always ask, "What benefits will the Govt get from this?" because they NEVER do things for our benefit unless it is as an adjunct to improving their position.
And when you've asked and answered how it benefits the Govt, ask yourself which Corporations will benefit from it.