Dispelling the myths about organic farming

December 20, 2011 — xanthippa

If I had live off the food I grew myself, I would starve to death.

It’s that simple.

One of my husband’s favourite jokes is that if somebody wants to kill a plant without using any herbicides, all they have to do is ask me to look after it:  within days of my most ardent efforts to meet its every need, the plant will simply give up and die.

We have a most beautiful rock garden in our front yard:  my husband and kids made it, because (they said) they could not take yet another year of dead plants in front of the house as I tried over and over to grow some flowers…

Even the rabbit refuses to eat plants I try to grow for him in the back yard:  he’ll eat their farm-bought equivalents, but not the ones from the backyard…

(The only exception to this rule is a rosebush I have:  I have tried to kill it for years – even digging up all its roots and everything – but it just keeps coming back bigger and stronger…)

I explain this to underscore the wonder with which I regard all humans who are actually capable of growing food.

When I was little, my grandmother and her boyfriend grew most of their food:  this was unusual in the industrialized part of the world I came from, but organic farming was his passion and both were really, really good at it.  I always wanted to help – but I was only permitted to help with harvesting, banned even from watering plants (see reason above).

Ever since I had a choice, I have been buying my food from local farmers:  most of it organic.

Yes, I had heard all the things about ‘organic farming’ not producing better or tastier food than other farming methods.  Yet, for me, this was a conscious indulgence!

I really did not care if the peach tasted better because it was organic or because I thought it was organic…

And I did run experiments on my family by buying identical cuts of meat from the supermarket and local farmers and cooking them identically (say, the barbecue, and so on):  they very consistently preferred both the taste and the texture of the meat I purchased from local (‘organic’ or ‘near-organic’ or ‘least-harmful-practices) farmers.

This suited me very well:  I like the idea of supporting local farmers directly, eating food that was not shipped here across large distances, of knowing and developing a trust relationship with the people I got my food from… (I even went out to the farm where my beef came from, to see that yes, the cows actually walk around in the field and eat grass, and so on.)

While I would not think less of people for not following these practices, I relished in being able to do so myself.  I was not doing it because I was convinced my kids would get sick from eating supermarket food – I did it because I could and I enjoyed doing it.

Of course, whenever I could help it, I would never touch genetically modified foods:  the ‘safety tests’ performed on these are woefully inadequate and I do not believe they demonstrate these foods are safe for human consumption.  For example, most tests are run for less than 10 years – which means that cumulative damage which would show up after 15-20 years of consumption of these foods has never been examined, much less demonstrated to be safe.

In addition, the predatory practices by ‘some’ GM developers have truly very frightening implications.  For example, inserting the ‘terminator gene’ (which prevents 2nd generation seed from germinating, thus ‘protecting the IP’ of the seed’s developer – and ensuring the farmer must purchase new seed every planting season) into the highly mobile pollen rather than the location-controllable egg part of the seed is understood (by IP patent lawyers – I asked) to be an overtly aggressive move, signalling the conscious potential for the weaponization of GM seeds.

But, that is a different story altogether…

Perhaps it is with a bit of satisfaction that I read the following article:

“The results are in from a 30-year side-by-side trial of conventional and organic farming methods at Pennsylvania’s Rodale Institute. Contrary to conventional wisdom, organic farming outperformed conventional farming in every measure.”

…

“But even without a price premium, the Rodale study found organic systems are competitive with the conventional systems because of marginally lower input costs.”

I do not know how good this study is and if the article is representing its findings accurately. But, it is interesting and worth the read.

If it is even partially true, we may need to re-evaluate what we think we know about organic farming…

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Jewish Defence League on Freedom of Speech and Section 13

December 19, 2011 — xanthippa

BlogWrath has the full press release:

“The Roth Institute report is one more worrying reminder that anti-Semitism, the congenital disease afflicting the Jewish people, has metastasized. This new strain is particularly conducive to the currently dominant multicultural environment, especially in western Europe.”

This is a very serious problem which all free-thinkers must tackle.

The whole press release is well worth a read.

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Ezra Levant and Marc Lemire on Section 13

December 17, 2011 — xanthippa

A few days ago, I have brought you the reports on these hearings from Free Dominion.

Here is Ezra Levant, interviewing Marc Lemire himself about that same hearing:

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Mark Lemire and Section 13: report from Federal Court hearing on 13th of December, 2011

December 14, 2011 — xanthippa

Free Dominion has a discussion with several reports about the Tuesday hearing in Federal Court in  Richard Warman’s ongoing case against Mark Lemire, which has run into a snag:  the question whether Section 13 of the Human Rights Code (the thought-crime section) is Constitutional or not.

Connie Fournier reports that the cast was large:  from CCLA and BCLA to Doug Christie on stage, from BigCityLib to free-speech bloggers in the audience.  Here is a little quote from her report:

“During this time, the judge listened intently and didn’t interrupt. His face was inscrutable. The funniest moment of the hearing came when the lawyer for B’nai Brith said that Section 13 is “a ringing endorsement of free speech”. Everyone in the audience snorted and snickered uncontrollably. (Probably only one person in the audience was a censor and the rest were free speech supporters or media).”

An excerpt from Narrow Back’s  report:

“At 11:00 we returned to hear from the African Legal Clinic. They talked about “irradicating discrimination” for “deeper social concerns” “improvement of the condition of less fortunate people” blah blah, etc. They also talked about S13 as a “conciliatory process”. I just wrote down: “Ha!” “

And here is a part from Mark Fournier’s post:

“A couple of intervenors in favour of state censorship put in their two cents and then Richard Warman got up and complained that just because the CHRC did a terrible job of administering Section 13 his rights shouldn’t be violated. The irony was breathtaking.”

Read the whole reports – along with what people are saying about it – at Free Dominion!

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FOI request for FBI use of data secretly collected from smart phones: denied!

December 13, 2011 — xanthippa

A while back, I  posted about CarrierIQ and its ‘rootkit of all evil’.

In it are links which demonstrate how CarrierIQ has embedded code into smart phones which runs in the background and is not easily accessible to the phone’s user (with no notification to the user that it is running, much less choices to ‘opt out’).  This code records everything the phone is used for and reports this information back to CarrierIQ – even if the user is not in any contract with the company, or has indeed ever heard of its existence.  This information contains:

  • GPS information
  • incoming and outgoing phone calls
  • details of internet access and use, including encrypted data (like passwords)
  • all keystroke information

In another post, I have written about INDECT:  the EU’s proposed regime of continuous surveillance of member states’ citizenry for the purpose of identifying ‘unusual behaviour’, which would then be brought to the attention of police for ‘follow up’.  ‘Unusual behaviour’ would include (but not be limited to):

  • lingering too long in public areas
  • abnormal transit system use
  • internet habits that include visiting potentially ‘antisocial websites’
  • associating with ‘antisocial elements’
  • abnormal shopping habits

(In that post, I also provide a link to an article about CarrierIQ’s attempt to silence the researcher who first published information about its surveillance practices.)

The potential for abuse is so strong, it is difficult to overstate it…it seems that, increasingly, legislation is being drafted and passed all around the world not to safeguard against it, but to take advantage of it.

Here is an analysis (by a lawyer) of SOPA, just one such proposed pieces of legislation (in the USA) and the ways in which it breaches the constitution.

But if you are still not convinced that police agencies are warrantlessly accessing vast amounts of private data collected about citizens without their permission or knowledge, here is another piece of information you should consider:

‘A recent FOIA request to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for “manuals, documents or other written guidance used to access or analyze data gathered by programs developed or deployed by Carrier IQ” was met with a telling denial. In it, the FBI stated it did have responsive documents – but they were exempt under a provision that covers materials that, if disclosed, might reasonably interfere with an ongoing investigation.’

Indeed.

Our constitutions were written with the specific purpose of protecting the civil rights of citizens from their governments.  Most of us have forgotten this:  and our governments are increasingly passing laws which circumvent (if not directly breech) our unalienable rights which all written constitutions (starting with the Magna Carta) are but imperfect expressions of.

We need to wake up and oppose this passive tolerance of the increasingly corrupt and oppressive surveillance society – before it is too late!

H/T:  Tyr

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Video of the December 3rd 2011 Caledonia arrests

December 7, 2011 — xanthippa

Read the comentary at Voice Of Canada.

This video raises a number of things that I have been wondering about.

For example, the uniformed police officers do not display their badge numbers, making it impossible to identify them.  Is this legal?  If so, should it remain so?

Another question:  what recourse does a population have if a police force either refuses to enforce the laws of the land or enforces illegal orders?

In my never-humble-opinion, the only way an organizational corruption of this scale can be tackled is by holding the individuals within the organization personally responsible for their actions, including holding them personally responsible for following illegal orders to the maximum level the law permits.  Yes, this would mean legal action against individual police officers – if not criminal, then civil – even if these police officers are nice individuals.  Still, if they follow an illegal order, they must be accountable for this breech of law.

Of course, these are easy words to type and there is a world of difference between writing this and actually doing something about it.  Still, one ought to gather as much information first…

So, if you are knowledgable on this topic, please, comment and educate me on the laws, rules and procedures – and any other options legally available.  It would be much appreciated.

Because to my way of thinking, this is not a ‘native/non-native’ issue:  this is a policing issue and equality before the law issue!

 

UPDATE:  Here is a comment posted by Mark Vandermaas, which, in my neve-humble-opinion, is important enough to bump it into the ‘body’ of the post:

The scary part of Caledonia is that all the organizations, gov’t and NGO, that should have been pro-active in protecting the rights of the innocent were unwilling or unable to help: Human Rights Commission; Ombudsman (wanted to help, but not allowed to get involved in police issues); the Opposition (oh, how we tried); the Federal govt (not only wouldn’t they help Harper annointed Fantino as PC candidate!); the OCCPS (old agency for Police Services Act complaints); Haldimand’s Police Services Board; Haldimand Council (other than former Mayor Trainer); Cdn Civil Liberties Association (repeatedly begged them for help to no avail).

It would be hard to list here everything we tried, but some of the key things that worked well were:

1. Dr. King’s methods of peacefully confronting injustice and forcing them to violate your rights (techniques that he learned from Gandhi to influence the media and the conscience of the nation. When one protests with dignity and is willing to be verbally abused and assaulted without retaliating there is very little defence to this approach. Using it we actually caused the union radicals, anarchists, anti-Israel groups and native militants to curb their violence and aggression because – as one of them said at an anarchist’s conference, we were making THEM look like the racists by applying Dr. King’s methods. Just as King did not demonize whites, we did not demonize native people as a group (the thugs would disagree, of course). We tried our best to ensure people knew that the thugs didn’t speak for the good people of 6N.

2. Civil Lawsuits to a degree. I say that because while there were some important court victories such as the $20M Caledonia Class Action, the Brown-Chatwell settlements and some victories achieved by us via the small claim and superior courts, the fact is that racial policing is still practiced and the gov’t, 6N and the OPP have never apologized or ammended their policies.

3. Private Prosecutions under the CCofC. You know, of course, that Gary M, despite not being a lawyer, convinced the courts to charge 5 individual police officers for offences such as Mischief, Influencing Municipal Official and Obstructing Justice, and even won a case at the Court of Appeal. This has reigned in their abuses quite effectively, but apparently, they still have more to learn.

We’ve tried just about everything during the last 5 years. in the end, it’s not one magic bullet. It’s ordinary people taking advantage of every opportunity when presented and, as Gary says, ‘withstanding the test of time’ (while you’re being vilified, assaulted, and arrested). And…don’t wait for anyone to come to help. But, that’s the wonderful thing! A small group of committed people with no money, no power and no connections really can make a huge difference.

Having said all this, there were some good people who did help and paid a price for doing so. At risk of leaving someone out and inadvertently insulting them, I won’t try to list them. But one guy who doesn’t get enough credit is lawyer John Findlay of the Class Action, a lawyer who represents us in several cases including one where he helped mediate a solution whereby the OPP union finally admitted in writing they had no evidence we were inciting hate and violence. Couldn’t have done it without him.

Sorry to go on so long. Thks for listening.

Readers who want to know more should visit the Caledonia: No More Nightmares page at http://www.HelplessByBlatchford.ca which has videos and notes from our 2011 presentation of the same name in Ottawa – where you and I met. Thanks for being there, and thks for the coverage.

Mark Vandermaas
Editor, VoiceofCanada
Founder, Caledonia Victimis Project

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Have you heard about INDECT?

December 5, 2011 — xanthippa

If you haven’t heard about INDECT ( Intelligent Information System Supporting Observation, Searching and Detection for Security of Citizens in Urban Environment), you are not alone – especially if you are on this side of the pond.

Or you might have heard of it and dismissed it as some sort of a paranoid conspiracy theory…which is exactly what some, including Wikipedia, imply it to be.

On the other hand, WikiLeaks takes it deadly seriously.  As does European Digital Rights (EDRI).

If you happen to be unaware that items like phones send constant streams of information about you – including installing a hidden keylogger – back to corporations you may have no commercial relationship with, here is an article with a video that shows, step-by-step, how this is being done. (Yes, when this information was first published, CarrierIQ tried to shut the source up with threats of lawsuits.)

And just to help you relax when you bring home a new video-game console…consider their enhanced sensory abilities (lip-reading, facial expression analysis to measure emotional states, enhanced speech recognition) in conjunction with the ‘back doors’ being built in to so many of our digital devices.

But, I digress…

The EU is planning to gather information about its citizens from ‘open sources’ (social media, chat-rooms, blogs) as well as public surveillance systems (like CCTV cameras to the GPS devices that they wish to legislate to be mandatory in every vehicle in order to ‘monitor traffic patterns’), their surfing habits, their shopping habits (remember all those ‘loyalty cards’?), to all other policing methods.  Then they plan to run this mass of data through some algorithms which will analyze the language used by specific citizens with their public behaviours (say, like sitting in a public place for longer than ‘normal’) and online preferences, cross-reference it all and come up with ‘automated dossiers’ which will alert police officers to go check out specific citizens deemed to have ‘abnormal behaviour’.

All this is to be done by an arms-lenght (translation:  completely unaccountable) agency which is as transparent as tar, overseen by a police-agency dominated board.  As this agency is an EU creature, all the member states would be compelled to give it full access to citizen information, from financial to DNA databases.

Of course, we know this is the direction our society is moving in – but I suspect most of us have not been aware of the degree to which this has already been happening and just how lacking we are in any privacy rights.

Perhaps we ought to pay more attention…

H/T:  HackerNews

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Ontario Provincial Police racially profiles & arrests 8 people in Caledonia, Ontario

December 4, 2011 — xanthippa

It is difficult to believe that this is still going on…

Canada in general, Ontario in particular, have recently been absorbed in the Attawapiscat scandal:  millions of dollars have gone to support an aboriginal community of a few thousand people, yet the living conditions for ‘regular’ band members there are so deplorable and despicable, words fail me.  This is a very difficult situation to deal with:  the current rules/regulation/philosophy imprisons our native populations in far northern ghettos in the name of ‘protecting them’…yes, the language of ‘tyranny of the nice’ – oppressing people while all the time pretending that one is doing it in their name.

Here is some excellent commentary on this topic  (including an interview with the brilliant and Honourable Patrick Brazeau).  (Aside and completely unrelated:  senator Brazeau comes from the Kitigan Zibi community which twins Maniwaki.  This region is in one of the most beautiful corners of the world – one I have visited annually for about two decades and which has completely enchanted me, my spouse and our children.  It would be difficult to convince me that there could possibly be a more beautiful area in all the world!)

Yet, when I was in a fast-food restaurant in Maniwaki only 3-4 years ago,  I personally witnessed  the residents from Kitigan Zibi be refused service on the grounds that the person taking their order did not understand English and thus could not serve them.  Standing directly behind them in the line, I (being the nagging person that I am) decided to, on this occasion, use English only to order and I feigned inability to speak or comprehend French:  yet I was served without any difficulty!  Incensed – yet afraid to make a scene (it was not my neighbourhood to rock the proverbial boat in), after I was served, I went and caught up with the people who were refused service because they spoke English and were native – I offered to place the order for them, but, they declined.  I can understand their position…

So, yes – I can honestly say that I have experienced (as a witness) discrimination against Canadians, simply because they were Native Canadians.  And, yes – I was deeply disturbed by it.  And, yes – I DID all I thought was in my power to defeat it without adding animosity to the community in which it occurred.  This discrimination is not ‘theoretical’ – and it is something that I condemn, with every fibre of my being!!!

It is my deepest held principle that all humans must be treated as equals in the eyes of the law:  this focus on the individual is the only way we can prevent the erosion of innate civil liberties that ‘group-politics’ of the totalitarian/collectivist Cultural Marxism is fighting to defeat.

This is why I am just as upset that people were discriminated against for NOT being ‘natives’ as I am that people were discriminated FOR being ‘natives’!!!

Yet, this is exactly what has happened in Caledonia…

Read the latest shameful details here.

As long as people are discriminated against on the basis of race – whether ‘in’ or ‘out’ is irrelevant – we can never have equality of citizens before the law!

And that is shameful – however anyone may try to justify it!

Update:  more information with pictures and video about what had happened in Caledonia.

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Daniel Hannan: Political Arrest in Croatia?

December 3, 2011 — xanthippa
Posted in corruption, opression, politics. Tags: , , , , , . 1 Comment »

Feeling Dehydrated? Don’t say that drinking water may be beneficial – in the EU, you could go to jail for that…

November 20, 2011 — xanthippa

OK – the idiotcracy that is the EU has been my pet peeve for a long time now.

Having been born in what is now the EU, I ‘get an earful’ about how things went from ‘optimistically enthusiastic’ to ‘pre-WWI-Austrian-bureaucracy-induced-paralysis’ (my great-grand-father lived to almost 100 years of age and he used to tell us, kids, the stories – plus I read ‘The Castle’).

This, however, takes the cake!

According to the EU, after a ‘multi-year-study’ by 21 ‘scientists’, ‘there is no evidence that drinking water may prevent dehydration‘!?!?!

Whom the {insert expletive of choice} are they using as ‘scientists’?  The IPCC quacks?

Oh, and if you make a claim to the contrary, you just might face a 2-year jail term…

The EU has systematically stripped away the ability of citizens within the EU zone to affect the laws.  The EU bureaucrats have methodically and systematically replaced democratic processes and constitutional civil rights guarantees with bureaucrat-designed-and-implemented rules which, once drafted by the bureaucrats, even the elected members of the EU Parliament are unable to prevent from being enacted:  the best they can hope for is to delay the implementation for a few months!

This is yet another glimpse of the disconnect with reality among the ruling bureaucrats and the actual physical world.

Abolish the EU now, IF you still can!!!

And all of us living in North America:  we need to increase our vigilance against the NA zone (which would mirror the EU zone), which can be glimpsed in acts such as SOPA….

When reason and the scientific method are thrown out the window are thrown out the window in favour of some ideological ideals (be they religious or secular – it does not matter at this level), it signal the type of corruption which sounds the death-knoll for society and ushers in an era of oppression of individuals in the name of these ideological ideals.

It’s happened before.

It has started again.

Let’s not let it come to fruition!

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