Should Organic Industries Rely on Federal "Investments"?

According to this alert from The Organic Trade Association: 

In order to reach deficit reduction requirements, Members of Congress are currently facing the daunting task of determining unprecedented spending cuts. While the funding for organic programs is miniscule in regards to the overall budget, everything is under scrutiny.

Consequently, they request that supporters send the following letter to Congress:

As your constituent, I am urging you to defend the small, but critical, programs that support the organic businesses which I rely on to feed myself and my family. 

These programs include the:

• National Organic Program (NOP);

• Organic Data Initiative (ODI);

• Organic Research Extension Initiative (OREI);

• National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program; and the

• Agricultural and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)

I need you to protect my choice to purchase products grown and processed without the use of toxic chemicals, antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones. Only organic offers this assurance. 

Please encourage the leadership of the Agriculture Committees and the members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to protect funding for the tens of thousands of organic farmers and manufacturers working to improve our nation’s environment and health. 

Instead of urging supporters to rely on federal programs to subsidize healthy, organic food production- why not set the organic movement on a sustainable path by transitioning from federal dependency to a competitive system that maximizes the rewards to farmers, businesses and investors catering to the skyrocketing consumer demand for organic products? 

State sponsored intervention into markets consistently results in the misallocation of resources and investment, highlighted in the recent housing crisis and impending doom of student loans. Federal "investments" (in companies like Amtrak) also discourage creativity and competition, which prevent lower prices and and inhibit productivity.

Only an independent market will provide the most effective and efficient organic food industry. Such a market advances productivity by stimulating competition and creative investment, driving down prices while maintaining quality. Ultimately, this will expand the consumer base and make healthy, organic food accessible and affordable to everyone.

The due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizens is now reality

By Glenn Greenwald

It was first reported in January of last year that the Obama administration had compiled a hit list of American citizens whom the President had ordered assassinated without any due process, and one of those Americans was Anwar al-Awlaki. No effort was made to indict him for any crimes (despite a report last October that the Obama administration was "considering" indicting him). Despite substantial doubt among Yemen experts about whether he even has any operational role in Al Qaeda, no evidence (as opposed to unverified government accusations) was presented of his guilt. When Awlaki's father sought a court order barring Obama from killing his son, the DOJ argued, among other things, that such decisions were "state secrets" and thus beyond the scrutiny of the courts. He was simply ordered killed by the President: his judge, jury and executioner. When Awlaki's inclusion on President Obama's hit list was confirmed, The New York Times noted that "it is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing."

After several unsuccessful efforts to assassinate its own citizen, the U.S. succeeded today (and it was the U.S.). It almost certainly was able to find and kill Awlaki with the help of its long-time close friend President Saleh, who took a little time off from murdering his own citizens to help the U.S. murder its. The U.S. thus transformed someone who was, at best, a marginal figure into a martyr, and again showed its true face to the world. The government and media search for The Next bin Laden has undoubtedly already commenced.

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Ron Paul Blimp in Orlando, 2011

Via DailyPaul

Just talking to Robert. Looks like it will cost $1,500 for Thursday and he's a supporter, so that is the cost of gas. Seems like the debate/straw poll is a 2 day thing - right? He can do both days for $3,000.

On Thursday he can start at 8pm and fly for an hour.
On Friday he has a commitment so can't be there till 9pm but is also willing to fly for an hour.

He did this for Paul in 2007:


Please donate!

I am also collecting slogans to scroll under his wings and will pass those onto him. Keep them fairly short. Watch the vid for an idea of ad space.

thanks,

-t

U.S. defends unilateral capture or kill doctrine

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will keep targeting al-Qaida anywhere in the world, including in countries unable or unwilling to do it themselves, the top U.S. counter terror official said Friday.
White House counter terror chief John Brennan laid out what could be called the Osama bin Laden raid doctrine, in remarks at Harvard Law School. He says under international law, the U.S. can protect itself with pre-emptive action against suspects the U.S. believes present an imminent threat, wherever they are.
That amounts to a legal defense of the unilateral Navy SEAL raid into Pakistan that killed al-Qaida mastermind bin Laden in May, angering Pakistan. It also explains the thinking behind other covert counterterrorist action, like the CIA’s armed drone campaign that only this week killed a top al-Qaida operative in Pakistan’s tribal areas. The Obama administration has quadrupled drone strikes against al-Qaida targets since taking office.
The Obama administration has more recently expanded drone strikes and the occasional special-operations raid into areas like Somalia, where the weak government may be willing to fight al-Qaida but lacks the resources. Navy SEALs targeted al-Qaida operative Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia in 2009, by helicopter. The SEALs then landed to pick up his body and bury it at sea, just as bin Laden was later interred.
“We reserve the right to take unilateral action if or when other governments are unwilling or unable to take the necessary actions themselves,” Brennan said.


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