USDA Identified as Terrorists
This morning we got the following comment on the article “VT Premises ID Killed”:
Thanks Vermont, for opening an avenue for those that wish to use animal diseases as a bio-eco-terrorism tool. We would have tried to start along the SW border but that’s now just to obvious. Thanks! We’ll take the NE corner and work our way in that way.
-ABET
When a comment is left, the web site software records the IP address of the commenter as we’ve discussed before. Readers may be interested to know that the above comment came directly from the USDA Office of Operations. Here is the IP address info that came in with this comment:
Author : ABET (IP: 168.68.129.127 , cofc.aphis.usda.gov)
Whois : link
Doing a WhoIs internet lookup via ws.arin.net tells us a bit more about who is leaving the comment:
Search results for: 168.68.129.127
OrgName: USDA Office of Operations
OrgID: UOO-2
Address: Suite 133, Building A
Address: 2150 Centre Ave
City: Fort Collins
StateProv: CO
PostalCode: 80526
Country: US
NetRange: 168.68.0.0 - 168.68.255.255
CIDR: 168.68.0.0/16
NetName: PPQ
NetHandle: NET-168-68-0-0-1
Parent: NET-168-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Assignment
NameServer: NS1.USDA.GOV
NameServer: NS2.USDA.GOV
Comment:
RegDate: 1994-01-26
Updated: 2005-10-11
OrgAbuseHandle: ZU20-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer
OrgAbusePhone: +1-970-295-5277
OrgAbuseEmail: Network.Operations@usda.gov
OrgNOCHandle: ZU20-ARIN
OrgNOCName: USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer
OrgNOCPhone: +1-970-295-5277
OrgNOCEmail: Network.Operations@usda.gov
OrgTechHandle: ZU20-ARIN
OrgTechName: USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer
OrgTechPhone: +1-970-295-5277
OrgTechEmail: Network.Operations@usda.gov
# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-08-28 19:10
I called the OrgAbusePhone number and after some transferring around I got to Ron Glen who was able to help me. With a little investigating he was able to identify where this IP address, and thus the comment, hail from.
I’ve known for a long time that various people at the USDA and state ag agencies are regularly reading NoNAIS.org. Some dialog is good - they need to hear our objections to NAIS. But apparently the USDA, or someone at the USDA, is feeling some pain. Now they are threatening to do terrorism in order to justify NAIS. This makes the USDA an agency that claims to both protect us and to terrorize us. But then is that really news?
Note to the USDA commenter: IP addresses are recorded, you have been tagged and your movements are being tracked online. Being a good citizen I have reported this threat of terrorism.
Cheers,
-WalterJ
Update 8/28/06 1:11 pm - Barbara Weiss from the USDA Duty Officer contacted me by phone to get a copy of the original comment with headers so their security team can investigate. Sent.
Update 8/29/06 10:55 pm - Message from the USDA states that they are “cooperating with the Office of Inspector General, the Law Enforcement arm of USDA to investigate this further and bring this situation to resolution.”
Update 8/30/06 12:41 am - Looking back through my old comments logs I ran across the same IP address on another comment. The commenter used a different name and email address that time. Again it was identified as coming from the same offices of the USDA. Apparently officials from the USDA have left comments before, possibly thinking they were anonymous.
Googling about a bit I found this interesting web page. This doesn’t prove that he has anything to do with the comment that started this discussion. He just works for the USDA, APHIS and has the same IP address. Maybe he used someone else’s computer or someone uses his. Maybe they are dynamically allotting IP addresses within their network. A little Googling of his name and NAIS gives this and this. Certainly that isn’t enough to hang a man ’round these parts.
Looking through my web server log files I find many pages served to our good friend at IP:168.68.129.127 beginning back in February of 2006. Obviously our USDA visitor is a loyal reader of NoNAIS.org. He is very busy keeping up with not just posts here but also on other anti-NAIS web sites like Henwhisperer’s as noted in the comments. It would be interesting for the other web sites to look through their log files and see what they find. With all the time he spends reading our web sites one must wonder when he ever has time to get his work done that he’s being paid for by the USDA - our tax dollars. Hmm… Perhaps what he is doing is his job…
Update 10/2/06 3:08 pm - Still no word back from the USDA or the FBI on our little terrorist friend at IP:168.68.129.127 at the USDA offices. I have sent queries but gotten no response. I guess asking the fox to investigate the fox den wasn’t such a hot idea. Same for Wile E. Coyote who appears to be in cahoots with the fox.
Update 10/4/06 12:53 pm - See this comment from donna about a letter from her senator regarding the investigation. Details to follow soon I hope.
Update 10/21/06 - See new article with update and letter from Senator Conrad.
Go get em Cowboy! The Government must be held accountable at all levels.
“We shall go on to the end. . .we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our (land), whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, . . .even if. . .this (land)or a large part of it were subjugated and starving”–Churchill
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to this. Let’s hope the canker from within consumes this rotten bud.
Thank God we still live in a country where you can stand up for your beliefs–may it never end!
Comment Podchef — August 29, 2006 @ 11:25 am
I have heard from a reliable source, some one that is going to sub contract for NIAS to tag animals that NIAS is going to move under the home land security umbrella to aviod law suits becuse of the unconstitionality NIAS.Sounds like this stuff is comming to a head!
Comment Betty — August 29, 2006 @ 11:31 am
Great job Walter! I’d love to be a fly on the wall at that office today. I wonder how they’ll like being “tracked” . . .
Keep up the great work - this battle is far from over!!
J. Mast
MastFamilyFarm.com
Comment Jonathan — August 29, 2006 @ 11:48 am
Walter, thank you for all your work on this. A person like this USDA commenter is at the very least unstable and possibly dangerous. What sort of government employee would dare to make cavalier comments about terrorist intrusions? Let us hope that the USDA is truly serious about investigating this and will take appropriate disciplinary action and, if necessary, refer the incident for criminal investigation.
Comment Mary Zanoni — August 29, 2006 @ 12:05 pm
Excellent work, Walter. You just showed ‘em up as the crooks they are! Diana
Comment Diana Flanary-Bray — August 29, 2006 @ 12:08 pm
My blog, Post Menopausal Ponderings, http://henwhisperer.blogspot.com/
was scanned twice last night by the USDA.
At Aug 28 2006 11:23:03 am
Domain Name usda.gov ? (United States Government)
IP Address 168.68.1.# (USDA Office of Operations)
ISP USDA Office of Operations
Location
Continent: North America
Country : United States
State: Colorado
City: Fort Collins
AND
At 2:49:25 pm
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 168.68.129.# (USDA Office of Operations)
ISP USDA Office of Operations
Location
Continent: North America
Country : United States
State : Colorado
City : Fort Collins
Just for the record.
Comment Henwhisperer — August 29, 2006 @ 12:08 pm
If the government is really as eager to stop terrorism as they claim, then why isn’t the FBI investigating this? The USDA security team shouldn’t be investigating a terrorist threat that may have come from anyone in the USDA.
[I contacted the USDA first to verify that this came from their offices and they asked to handle it. In the past for other incidences the FBI has not been interested. I have sent copies of the information to a number of anonymous drop boxes just incase. Posting here about it is another way of getting the word out. -WJ]
Hey, if they want to make terrorist threats, they ought to be treated just like the terrorists they claim to be. And this ought to be on the news. People need to hear how far they are prepared to go in order to shove NAIS down our throats. Walter, I hope you contact every news outlet you can think of and let them know about this.
[Please contact any news outlets you like to let them know. I hadn’t thought of that. -WJ]
It also puts something else in perspective; when visiting several other anti-NAIS sites I found some comments and postings “agreeing” with us, but from such a crazy extremist position that I wondered if they might be made by an agent-provocateur. Now we see the government will do anything to push this forward, I am really getting the feeling I may be right. They may be trying to discredit us by posing as sympathisers who act deranged.
[An interesting possiblity. -WJ]
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — August 29, 2006 @ 12:10 pm
way to go walter keep up the good work
hugs dot in tenn
Comment dot lamb — August 29, 2006 @ 12:19 pm
You know, if there is a USDA employee angry and bitter enough about their defeat in Vermont that they are willing to post a terrorist threat from a government computer, what else might unhappy employees do? There have been incidents of individuals going pretty far in the past, so what assurance do we have that USDA employees angry and bitter over opposition to this program might not act on their own to increase the risks of, or even deliberately introduce, infectious diseases into the food supply?
If someone could put poison in bottles of Tylenol, and all the other contamination incidents of the past, this is not a far-fetched fear. Whenever USDA employees are near food, which they are supposed to inspect, we must now fear they may actually contaminate it. And there is no “tamper-proof” seal for meat, fruits, or veggies. This is bigger and scarier than I thought at first.
We have no way of knowing how many employees are unhappy, how unhappy they are, how unbalanced they are, or where they work. Exposing this one lunatic won’t take care of that problem. If there are other disgruntled USDA workers out there, they may just be more careful than this idiot. If only the news would pick up on this in a big way. I don’t believe this was intentional, but if the USDA has stirred up such strong feelings in its employees, that is a dangerous thing.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — August 29, 2006 @ 12:21 pm
Have you thought about getting this incident to the local news? I bet that their nighttime viewing audience would like to know someone at the USDA is making terroristic threats. It’s kind of like hiring the fox to guard the chicken coop… then making it impossible for anyone to raise chickens without having their own fox! LOL -Chellie
PS. As of this weekend when I make my next grocery run, all our meat purchases will be made at the tiny little local butcher shop 30 miles from me. I am done with factory farmed goods, and the government that wants to strangle my freedoms.
Comment ChelYoung — August 29, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
Nice job Walter!!
Please continue to update us as to anything you hear regarding this!
Derrick in New Mexico
Comment Derrick — August 29, 2006 @ 12:32 pm
Walter, would you do me a favor and cost (cross?) post with our group. we have the problems worked out on the site now. We are CentralCaliforniansAgainstNais@yahoogroups.com. Thank You Walter, Keep up the good work. Its nice to see you caught the USDA with there pants down.
TOM
[I have added it already in the right sidebar. -WJ]
Comment thomas hess — August 29, 2006 @ 12:50 pm
Keep up the great work Walter,”We the people”are behind you all the way.Nobody likes the music,but the dance floor is filling.
Comment Scott — August 29, 2006 @ 1:07 pm
It was mentioned by someone that they don’t think this threat was intentional. Personally, I will take a wait and see attitude on that.
The US Government has done, and still does some pretty underhanded things to get things done. Sometimes warranted for REAL security measures, but not here, in this case.
They want to get NAIS through pretty bad, so at this point in time, nothing they might try would suprise me, including terrorist threats, fake or not, if it proves/forces their point. Heck, they’re already using bribary and blackmail to force the states to “volunteer” to start the program.
Threats such as this, from a government office tells us what type of group we’re dealing with here. Unfortunatly,it would only take one or two unstable people in a government office, in the right places, to create havoc.
On the flip side, this could also be a good thing for us, if we can get the people to realise how far some in the government offices will go to force regulation.
Comment kim p. — August 29, 2006 @ 1:11 pm
Keep backup on this information. I don’t think this is an ‘unhappy employee’.
This seems to be a veiled, but serious threat. It’s made to sound like someone who doesn’t know English very well - a foreign terrorist.
And since this site has proven to be a powerful forum and a resisting force against the bullies trying to secure absolute control, expect it to be discredited and/or taken down.
Yes, I, too, have wondered about those comments threatening to fight the system with violence. They do seem like they are meant to steer the discussion in a certain direction.
Ever wonder about some of the disease outbreaks that have already occured?
How does West Nile skip states? Birds migrate north and south. West Nile has spread from the east to the west. Mosquitoes don’t migrate. How do mosquitoes bite birds, anyway?
One year, several hundred horses died of West Nile in our state. The next year no horses, but so many people were sick only those who needed to be hospitalized were tested.
People in the Black Hills of South Dakota were getting West Nile; a few died. There are no mosquitoes in the Black Hills.
I’ve had West Nile two summers in a row although we were told at first that once you’ve had it you won’t get it again. This year we are told that it can be recurrent.
I am more concerned about the bullies within than I am of those without.
Comment donna — August 29, 2006 @ 1:38 pm
I would absolutely demand this person be exposed, fired and a written statement from the USDA posted here stating the incident and apologizing. I doubt this was a low on the rung employee, because I doubt they would give a rat’s a$$ if NAIS passes or not. I would venture to say this came from someone who either is a radical vegan or a higher on the totem pole employee who is afraid their pockets won’t get lined with dirty Big Ag cash if this doesn’t go through. They seem awful angry to me. There is ususally a reason for such anger. Either way, they are scary and need to be exposed for who they are. I also agree this should make NATIONAL news. No one from our government should have a job like this making such threats. Aren’t they suppose to be protecting us from this kind of insanity? Yeah right just like an electronic ear tag keeps mad cow and avian flu away.
Comment Goatster — August 29, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
Let’s see how many ways the USDA is undermining the United States Food Supply Safety.
1. Refuses to test every cow sent through the packer house for BSE.
2. Reduced even radom testing of cows for BSE, but wants those NAIS tags.
3. Changed grass fed to feedlot fed.
4. Reduced standards for organic to help fool US consumers.
5. Allows imports from Mexico and no COOL inforced to see where they come from…like Chili or other chemical using areas that have been banned from US.
6. No long term studies on GM crops or animals for long term effects of radical proteins changed during development besides those meant to be changed…..http://www.newswithviews.com/Smith/jeffrey14.htm
6. Pushed for and got China imports of Processed Chickens to undermine US AG. economy.
7. Reduced to occassional inspections of imports to USA.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
9 CFR Parts 327 and 381
[Docket No. 03-033F; FDMS Docket Number
FSIS-2005-0026]
RIN 0583-AD08
Frequency of Foreign Inspection System Supervisory
Visits to
Certified Foreign Establishments
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Final rule.
———————————————————————–
SUMMARY: The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
FSIS is amending
9 CFR parts 327 and 381 to bring the frequency with
which foreign
inspection systems are required to make supervisory
visits to certified
establishments into agreement with the frequency with
which the Agency
makes supervisory visits to domestic establishments.
This final rule
does not affect in-plant inspection requirements. FSIS
is deleting the
requirement that supervisory visits take place “not
less frequent[ly]
than one such visit per month.'’ Instead, FSIS will
require foreign
inspection systems to make “periodic supervisory
visits'’ to certified
establishments to ensure that establishments meet FSIS
requirements for
certification to export meat and poultry to the United
States.
DATES: Effective Date: September 5, 2006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Sally White,
Director,
International Equivalence Staff, FSIS Office of
International Affairs;
(202) 720-6400; sally.white@fsis.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
NOW keep adding to the list folks and include the plant material also.
USDA really stands for United States Government Destroying Local Agriculture (for factory farms)
Comment Sue Karber — August 29, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
8. Lot numbers undermine food security in the NAIS program. If every animal in large lots are given one number and only the number accounted for then substitues could be made for a sick or dead animal and no one is the wiser. Lot numbers alone make the progam a sham. Then who controls the control of tags is another sham. Industry can switch tags, rearrange material because they are the control plus the packers are not known for good management…4 goofs shipping to Japan and countless quality problems with their self-policed arrangement with USDA has led to recalls of USDA approved foods. So the scam ….I mean sham continues of USDA protecting foods…
I guess is USDA protecting food profits not safety when it all hits the fan.
Comment Sue Karber — August 29, 2006 @ 2:05 pm
For what it’s worth, I just emailed this page to Fox and CNN. Maybe THIS will be considered newsworthy.
Comment prairie girl — August 29, 2006 @ 2:13 pm
Walter,
Give ‘em enough rope and they will hang themselves! In a court of law if a crime is committed and there is proof of a “threat” to do harm by the person charged, it many times is what hangs them.
So now if a disease does break out we have “proof of a threat” to present to the court, so to speak! Sounds to me like someones feeling a bit of “irritation” over at USDA. You made this rainy day,a bit brighter Walter, thanks!
Comment LEE — August 29, 2006 @ 2:30 pm
I wonder how many people from the USDA has an AOL email account?
Just pondering….
:)
[In the case of the above comment it was a yahoo account. Same idea, seeking anonymity but not very successfully. -WJ]
Comment Breederville — August 29, 2006 @ 2:33 pm
Walter,
just a thought that you may already have had, but this may be a good thing to pass along to Mr.Kerr as it would seem to be not only a threat but also directed at Vermont in a sense,maybe this will get out there and some of these people in charge will see that the actual “threats of “terrorism” are coming not from us poor humble farmers but directly from the USDA in more ways than one!
Comment LEE — August 29, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
The entire system needs to be taken apart and replaced with good caring people, not people who just care about their next paycheck.
Comment Martin in Cincinnati — August 29, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
link
HOW AGRIBUSINESS HAS HIJACKED REGULATORY POLICY AT THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Except:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IN ITS EARLY DAYS,
the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was dubbed the “People’s Department” by President Lincoln, in recognition of its role in helping the large portion of the population that worked the land. Some 140 years later, USDA has been transformed into something very different. Today it is, in effect, the “Agribusiness Industry’s Department,” since its policies on issues such as food safety and fair market competition have been shaped to serve the interests of the giant corporations that now dominate food production, processing and distribution. We call it USDA Inc.
More at link
Comment Breederville — August 29, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
I sent a heads up to Steve Kerr at the Agency of Agriculture. I hope he heeds the information. I gave him the link to read it for himself.
Comment Henwhisperer — August 29, 2006 @ 4:25 pm
Way to go Walter! Great Investigative computer ID work, on this terrorist!
Let us “all” in this Nation, write the USDA and “DEMAND” full and appropriate “ACTION.
Action on the personnel, involved in allegedly threatening to Attack U.S. Citizens, as well as USDA’s folly of an ID program, called NAIS, leading to these apparent threats on this web site.
It’s time to “Stand Up” people, and be counted, just like Walter does everyday!
God’s Speed to Stopping these threats against “We the People’s” Liberty and Rights on “OUR OWN” property (premises).
Walter, you should have been an Agent in the AFOSI…
Dean A. Ayers
Glenwood, Iowa
IOWANS AGAINST NAIS
Comment DeanAFOSI (IOWA) — August 29, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
Walter, I second Lee in #21. If you haven’t contacted Steve Kerr, I think you should fill him in. I am sure he will be very interested. The fact that the USDA said they would “investigate” it doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
I will pass this on to my man in the newsroom working on several things for me. Intentional or not, veiled or not–what is a USDA employee doing wasting our money commenting, unofficially, on a blog. Don’t they have enough work to do? Guess not. Perhaps it’s time to do away with the whole department.
I also agree with the possibility that some commenters on some Stop NAIS sites may be steering the converstaion. They’d only need a few people speaking of pitchforks and torches to start the witch-hunt for terr0r!sts.
Comment Podchef — August 29, 2006 @ 4:34 pm
Contact everyone on the Agriculture Committee and all of your state representatives in Washington. Send copies to your local politicians. Maybe they need to get their fannies up to speed on this.
I don’t have any faith in the media these days.
Shouldn’t the CIA be looking into this? I guess they do the offshore stuff. The FBI should be looking into this.
Comment donna — August 29, 2006 @ 5:10 pm
Regarding our supposed need to suppress freedom in order to prevent terrorist attacks, we would do well to remember the words of Benjamin Franklin:
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” — Benjamin Franklin.
Thanks WalterJ for being a true modern day Patriot!! It is too true, as Ronald Reagan stated, we have always been only one generation away from loosing the freedoms our forfathers gave their fortunes, honour, and very lives to achieve for us, and each generation has to re-win in their own day and way that very freedom, not always on the battle fields of war, but in the hearts and minds of “we the people”. You, WalterJ, are as much a valued leader in the fight to preserve freedom in our day as were the signers of the Declaration in 1776! Lead On!!!!!
Comment DanielBW — August 29, 2006 @ 7:18 pm
Walter: you realy need to call in the FBI on this one. This is a threat to our national security. The USDA should not be allowed to investigate.
Comment Mike — August 29, 2006 @ 9:43 pm
You should call the FBI. If they came to my house for complete nonsense I think they will check into this.
Think about it. Infect the upper CT river valley watershed with something and the all of New England falls. Sounds like a pretty serious threat to me.
Comment Sue F — August 30, 2006 @ 2:46 am
agreeing with all who have commented above I will say “well done Walter!”
Comment Steph — August 30, 2006 @ 12:13 pm
It has been sent onto the Dallas radio station, KLUV but remember I sent this station other things on NAIS and all I got was the city folk think we need to do this.
Comment Suzy Minck — August 30, 2006 @ 1:46 pm
It has been sent onto the Dallas radio station, KLUV but remember I sent this station other things about NAIS and all I got was the city folk think we need to comply.
I will also be sending it onto the major TV stations in the Metro Mess, oops, Metro Plex.
Comment Suzy Minck — August 30, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
It might not be the first time a government employee went off the deep end or helped someone else who had. I read a book about the anthrax killer and as I remember the anthrax that was mailed was a type usually only found in U.S. government labs. That is what the author claimed anyway.
Comment maggie — August 30, 2006 @ 3:39 pm
I would like to point out that the crime rate ( crime committed by law enforcement community ) for police officers is about the same as the general population, in fact I recall reading a study years ago that stated actually the crime rate for law enforcement community is slightly higher than the crime rate of the general population. It’s quite common for volunteer fire department members to be caught committing arson. Here in Texas recently they have been a numbers of the fire department community charged with arson. I am not sniping law enforcement or fire department folks, I am just pointing out we are just all people. If one person in one thousand has a tendency to be a nut that ratio is approximately the same for all groups.
With that being said everyone needs to keep in mind the USDA is a huge organization. The more people that work for the USDA the greater the chance there is, a nut that draws a paycheck to ” protect us” but is over the edge enough to launch an attack just to prove a point or try to force the issue to make us sorry for interfering with the USDA master plain. Just like the volunteer firemen that set the recent fires here in Texas.
The FBI must be called in, the culprit caught tried and convicted if he is proven guilty.
I can promises you this if a computer with an IP address from NONAIS.ORG sent a message like that to the USDA. The FBI would be kicking in the door of Walters farm, home and the web hosting company. He would be dragged out of his house at 3AM in his underwear with CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX , CNN and every other news camera filming it all. There would be immediate press releases from the USDA and FBI that an early morning raid of an anti-government compound in the outback of Vermont netted a survivalist and self proclaimed computer hacker that was making terrorist threats against the safety of the nation . After a through search of the enclave it was determined that MR. NONAIS had diesel, fertilizer and electronic apparatus that if assembled could have made a bomb. Additional items of interest found include a possible biohazard substance that had the look, feel and smell of pig dung .
Comment Mike — August 30, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
I gave the print out to John Weimers last night at our meeting. he said it was probably from their Risk Management Assessment folks. The people who sit around all day considering scenarios that might occur and thinking bad thoughts. :) I told him it really wasn’t helping their pr problem at all.
Missouri is really irking them as well, so any ‘incidents’ in the near future ought to be veiwed in an very circumspect light.
Imagine the billions of dollars that have been spent in infrastructure and planning for this program. I know if I had worked really hard on something for fifteen years and everyone hated it, it would feel like someone telling you that your baby was ugly.
Comment Doreen — August 30, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
Good work Walter. On eof our Ag dept workers admitted today that TN has inflated its voluntary sign up figures by offering a cash back program to beef cattle producers who purchase squeeze chutes and other equipment like that.The only stipulation is registering your premises for eligibility in this program.People have had no mention of NAIS but the figures are reported as voluntarily signed up ranch/farm owners for NAIS!Wonder how many other states have donethe same?
Comment TNcwgrl — August 30, 2006 @ 9:24 pm
Walter, I contacted the FBI, asking them to investigate this, and sent the information to various media outlets. So far, they do not seem interested; I would think some of them would have at least checked this out, and so the USDA must be soothing them quite nicely.
I have posted about it on my blog. I will be posting more information as I get the time to write it up. I have some ideas for getting this information out. I will send you a link to those posts in whatever way you think would be best.
And thanks for what you’re doing. You have put a lot of time into this; faced with a situation where I really feel I need to write about some of these issues, I realise how much of a sacrifice that is. I don’t have the time, really, but I don’t have any choice. We all owe you a great deal; I’m quite sure you don’t have the time either.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — August 30, 2006 @ 9:42 pm
walter,good work.will try to git this news out.if every one will send a copy to their local newspaper,and raido station,maybe just maybe someone will take notice. large fires start with small sparks.your friend nick
Comment NICK LeCOMPTE — August 31, 2006 @ 4:42 am
Sir: This program can not stop b.s.e. from getting into our food supply when so much beef comes in from overseas. I would be much easier to stop the importation of beef and stop the use of feeds containing animal products.
Chickens do not get bse, but they will have to be chiped as well. when a comercial grower can regester an entire flock and i have to regester each of my hens there is a problem. I raise pigeons and under this proposal I would have to chip each of them, is the government going to catch all of the wild pigeons and chip them?
This program is not about protecting the food supply.Anyone who has been in the military or has raised there own food can see right through it. This program is all about people control while making some rich people richer.
— noreply@bayh.senate.gov wrote:
>
>
> Dear Mr. Ford :
>
>
>
> Thank you for contacting me regarding the National
> Animal Identification
> System ( NAIS ). I appreciate you taking the time to
> share your thoughts
> with me on this issue.
>
>
>
> In response to the discovery of bovine spongiform
> encephalopathy (mad
> cow disease) in a cow in Washington State , the
> United States Department
> of Agriculture (USDA) announced in 2003 that it
> would implement NAIS .
> NAIS is designed to encourage the swift containment
> and eventual
> eradication of further diseases. Additionally, the
> program will help
> maintain animal health, food safety and quality
> assurance of meat.
>
>
>
> While NAIS is needed to contain livestock diseases,
> it is important that
> the federal government provide adequate funding for
> this program so that
> costs are not unfairly passed on to producers and
> consumers.
> Unfortunately, USDA has been slow to release details
> about NAIS and has
> left producers in the dark as to what its eventual
> cost will be. In
> April of 2005, USDA released a draft statement which
> called for NAIS to
> be operational by January of 2008, but failed to
> include cost estimates
> in their report. At the request of Senator Harkin,
> the Government
> Accountability Office (GAO) is investigating the
> NAIS program. This
> study is expected to shed more light on what the
> implementation of this
> program will require.
>
>
>
> I strongly believe food safety and consumer
> confidence in our meat
> supply is a top priority. BSE and other livestock
> diseases pose a threat
> to the health of American citizens and to the
> stability of American
> agriculture. That said , it is important that this
> program is
> implemented in a way that is not detrimental to the
> agricultural
> community. Please rest assured that I will keep your
> views in mind as
> USDA continues to develop its animal identification
> system.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Office of Senator Evan Bayh
> (202) 224-5623
> Russell 463
> Washington, D.C. 20510
>
>
>
Comment Bob — August 31, 2006 @ 7:14 am
Good work Walter. I will send this to media people in our area. This needs to get out and if the big guys wont take it some of our local ones will. I would also be interested in knowing why the FBI and Homeland Security would not be interested when they accost grannys in airports and make them submit to searches. THis threat is a threat just like any other and should not be ignored. Somebodys job needs to go and it shouldnt be some data entry guy. He could care less. THis came from somebody with something to lose and that could only be somebody up the food chain. Keep us posted.
Comment Susie Stretton — August 31, 2006 @ 8:27 am
I have a new proposal that is more feaseable than NAIS and would be more beneficial to the American People as well as help clean up our political problems to some degree. Upon entering any Public Service position a microchip would be implanted in said Public Servant until said position is vacated. It would be monitered 24 Hrs. a day by GPS to check where said Public Servant spends His/Her time - who they are consorting with - which clubs they spend time in and how much - whose bedrooms they sleep in - moniter bribes - cross check actual yearly wages with bank or savings deposits - actual time spent on the job - embezzlement issues - sexual misconduct - and the list of benefits from this proposal are virtually unlimited. The job of monitering all this activity would be farmed out to a private company (To minimize corruption) so that all information gathered would become a matter of public record to any concerned LEGAL American Citizen. It would also help moniter DUI’s - drug abuse and Insider Trading. This would be a pilot program to help convince the American Farmer/Rancher that NAIS could work under the right conditions. Also the Chip could be deployed in Servicemen/Women and News Reporters to help recover them in a Hostage situation which would also lead Military personell to the hostage takers and help eliminate them as well. One would think that the Government would have their hands full with Iraq - Afghanistan - Iran - Illegal immigration - Drug smuggling and Hugo Chavez & Cindy without trying to conquer the American People with NAIS as well. I submit this proposal for no personal gain but for the good of all American Citizens. Betty.
Comment Betty — August 31, 2006 @ 8:41 am
Another thought. THis should be forwarded to every state and federal politician. I am going to send it to mine with a note explaining the background. If enough of them see this maybe they will see the threat this is to us. If this is left to a USDA investigation team, nothing will be done.
Comment Susie Stretton — August 31, 2006 @ 8:46 am
re. #41 letter from Senator Bayh:
WE are the federal government! Where does Senator Bayh think federal funding comes from? Trees? Does he not realize producers and consumers pay taxes that are used for federal funding? Gross error from a senator….
Walter - you are a computer guru! I bow to your “geniosity”.
Comment Mari Jung — August 31, 2006 @ 9:34 am
Gordon Liddy just had a caller about NAIS on his national show (11:45 a.m. ET 8/31/06). I missed who the caller was, but he was very articulate about explaining the situation to Mr. Liddy, who joked about it and said it could never be enforced. I sent him the link to this story to see if he will take THAT seriously.
Comment Ginny in TN — August 31, 2006 @ 9:52 am
To #43, best idea I’ve heard yet. Good one Betty. We all know the government would never put themselves in that possition though.
If NAIS was left up to a vote by the people I really think it would pass. Only because every person I’ve talked with that lives within the city limits thinks it’s a good idea. I even know a lady, and I use that word lightly, that has horses, bought into the chips back in the 90’s and she’s been waiting for NAIS to come into play so her stock, not the 4 legged stock, would go up and she could make $. Greed will take over if we let it happen.
Comment Suzy Minck — August 31, 2006 @ 11:15 am
I am completely frustrated with our government over this!!
If this comment had come from ANY ONE OF US and had been emailed to a USDA site, THAT person would be in JAIL right now.
And THEY are doing an internal investigation, how nice. The FBI and Dept of Homeland Security should be heavily involved in this investigation!
Comment prairie girl — August 31, 2006 @ 11:16 am
I am reminded of a little song in Sesame Street…
“Journey to Ernie…”
“….we found him, we found him, Lalalalala…..”
TEE HEE!!! Caught in the Web of the WEB!!!!
Comment Kim Lapham — August 31, 2006 @ 11:17 am
Just an observation about the site meter I sent earlier in the day to Walter…
I notice a long time ago AOL doesn’t register much info. My old computer finally died and decided to run the new one off of HughesNet satelite. As far as the site meter goes I’m a ghost. I don’t know if Walter can see anything on his server end.
I’ve been watching the sitemeter in hopes of seeing more NH people reading the info. My computer doesn’t seem to register a bit of info. Do hope that means it isn’t just us few from NH here.
[Interesting. I’ve know for quite a while that SiteMeter and ClustrMaps both miss a fair number of readers. They are crude approximations, good enough for hitting the broad side of a barn but not detail work. Still, they are interesting as they both offer some features that I don’t get with my server stats like the map. The map is a lot of fun, especially when you could see the map - now it is so full. My real web logs have a lot more data in them and the ghosts show up there quite nicely. -WJ]
Comment Sue F — August 31, 2006 @ 11:53 am
Mr. Bret Combs should be investigated for all actions taken in his official position as wlll as the terrorist threat made here. Few know of the Elk destroyed here in Oklahoma a few years back for “being diseased” when in fact they were not diseased at all, which original tests showed (20 samples) and those from the rest of the kill off tested and test sent to Switzerland showed. This kill off caused quarantines that killed more than animals…it destroyed the small guys’ businesses. The costs were in the hundreds of thousands or more. No mention of the lack of disease found after the kill off or explanation of any sort. Records had to be sought through court action to find the truth. The original story was headline news. How much is going on that is pure propaganda from the USDA? I truly wonder?
Comment Sue Karber — August 31, 2006 @ 11:59 am
Oh good! I’m too young to be a ghost!
Comment Sue F — August 31, 2006 @ 1:40 pm
I sent the info to World Net Daily.
Comment Tammy — August 31, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
Way to go Walter! I agree with all the thoughtful comments. Thanks to your link to Judith at FARFA here in Texas. We have way to link to a new lobby that will help to unite our voices. We will redouble our efforts to get the truth out about NAIS. Love over fear, Justice over tyranny, Nancy
Comment Nancy — August 31, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
HI Walter i have been sending the USDA threat that they made against VT every where i can hope you don’t mind, you are a real blessing a fellow freedom fighter Shadow Walker
Comment Shadow Walker — August 31, 2006 @ 7:00 pm
Thanks so much Walter for exposing this USDA freak!!!! NAIS is nothing but a tool of control for ALL food production of the US.
Instead of NAIS the USDA should be recruiting more livestock veterinarians to help small farmers. Can you imagine my shock when I went to find a vet to vaccinate my small 20 bird flock for Newcastle, Merek and fowl pox et. al. that there were no Vets available to help me. Any vets in my area that handled poultry were all under “contract” to with companies like Tyson Foods or Pilgrims Pride in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Sure, I could buy a vial of 1000 doses to innoculate my own flock but where would I sell my other 980 doses - huh?
Give me a break. Four months ago we took the plunge and moved from Virginia to Maine to start a serious farm (raising heritage breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs, turkeys and heirloom fruits and vegetables). Land prices in Virginia were so ridiculously high priced. Just try to start a small farm in Virginia for under $500,000 without buying scrub on the side of a 30-60 degree mountain slope. Today, to own anything nice, you would need to inherit or win the lottery. I never saw the USDA helping start-up farmers at all - at least not in Virginia.
I am planning to report this incident to a congressman that I worked for many years ago (and is still in office:)
Great sleuthing job, Walter and thank you so much for such an informative website!!!!
Violet Willis
Comment Violet Willis — August 31, 2006 @ 10:11 pm
Surely you jest in your online conviction of an anonymous Internet visitor by simply using an IP address to “identify” an individual visiting this website blog.
IP addresses ARE NOT a valid form of User signature nor identification. Dynamically issued IP addresses are the built in net server protection against providing an identity.
Our servers, not in this domain, regularly receive IP calls from “USDA Chief Information Officer”. There are literally thousands of legit Users that may have accessed this blog from a range of IP addresses represented by the single one that you have identified.
[In some cases the IP address is dynamically allotted and would not work for ID. However even in sub net situations the main net address is available giving the net group which can be used to identify that it is from the USDA for real. In this case the USDA has it’s own large block of addresses, they act as their own ISP in effect. Go look at the WHOIS record in the article for details. -WJ]
Internet and online router security is so lax these days that a Internet router bandwidth thief operatiing from several hundred yards away from a USDA building might have used an internal wireless router to mimic an identity.
[As to wireless, if the USDA is doing that then they are proving my point about Data Insecurity. Properly done a wireless network using card ID’s is fairly secure be it won’t be as secure as a hardwired network. If the USDA is running unsecure networks that allow terrorists to utilize their networks to communications, as you are suggesting, then we have an even greater problem. -WJ]
And your guestimate that the guilty party(?) may have visited the site on numerous occasions indicates only that you are not familiar with concepts like bookmarking a website and automatically refreshing “offline” content on a regular basis. These may not be “regular visits” at all, but simply someone refreshing a list of bookmarked websites, or one Employee may have suggested via an email containing a link to this site, that other employees at that department become familiar with concerns raised on this blog.
[Wrong. I’m very familiar with the concept. You’re missing some basic background on how the Internet works. I suggest you read some books or take a course on network security and architecture. Emailing a link won’t cause the IP address of the querrying computer to show in the logs for HTTP access. That is a fundimental aspect of the net.
I won’t normally do this but since you’re so arrogant about this topic: you are at IP: 69.242.153.81 , c-69-242-153-81.hsd1.mo.comcast.net which tells volumes but not as much as the USDA’s visitor since it is a general ISP rather than a tight net like the “USDA” network. In the event of a crime, like the USDA visitor committed by making a terrorist threat, the FBI can get a warrant to force your ISP (Comcast) to provide the log records of your activity. Since those logs identify the time and IP they can pin it down very accurately to who the user was, you. You tried to hide your identity behind a @gmail.com email address but that doesn’t work, even if it is a face email, because of the HTTP access log info. Cheers, -WJ]
Comment greenindustry — August 31, 2006 @ 11:35 pm
Walter; I wrote the first article. I will need to explain how to make the most effective use of it, but in the meantime, anyone who wants can forward the link to their Senator or Congressperson and ask them to look into it. After all, this is an election year. If politician’s offices get a lot of calls on an issue, they just might get up out of their plush office chairs and pretend to do something. Publicity is the best hope we have. I’m sorry; I’d hoped to have the second article at least partially done by now. Unfortunately, it is after 1:30 in the morning, and I have to stop. My article is up at:
link
I don’t know if you can fix that link; I’m sure it will break in the comment box.
Feel free to put up a post with the link in it, or leave it here; whatever you think is best. If you want a copy of the article, I can send you that, or you can copy it yourself. Again, whatever works.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — August 31, 2006 @ 11:43 pm
Walter - an afterthought. I have to write up an organised plan for spreading this tomorrow, but those who know computers can do a bit already. A bookmark to this post is up at http://www.diigo.com and at http://del.icio.us already - accounts for both are free. If you don’t already have an account, sign up. Search for “WanderingAuthor”’s bookmarks. Save that one, using my title and my tags. If you can think of more relevant tags, by all means, add ‘em in. The more people who do this, the more notice it is likely to gather. Anyone who checks it can see how many others have saved it; the higher the number, the more they’re likely to take it seriously.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — August 31, 2006 @ 11:52 pm
Walter,
This was too good to keep it to myself. I have sent a pointer to this page to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.
People need to held accountable for what they do. Thank you for making the extra effort to track this irresponsible government employee.
Gil Bernier
Full Quiver Farm
Comment fullquiverfarm — September 1, 2006 @ 6:32 am
I again wrote to “Mr.” Johanns (sorry….can’t stand the guy), asking why he never answered my letter from 2 weeks ago. I’m afraid I wasn’t too awfully nice, but after this threat from his organization, I have no more room for smiles and being friendly with these idiots and liars, and frankly now, I believe very dangerous organization.
Here is my letter. I’m sure I’m making no friends there!
**************
What’s the matter Johanns? Does the truth hurt? You never answered me as far as the REAL disease and security problem in this country.
NAIS is lies. It is the government eventually coming through and wiping us all out in favor of the poison foods and abusive factory farms of Monsanto, Tyson,Cargil, etc.
YOU came from a farm family? YOU, with absolutely NO RESPECT for the small farms and homesteaders in this country, who would seemingly rather see illegal Mexicans and Islamic terrorists run free and track and tag every single farm in this country? With friends like you, who needs more enemies?
As I said, who’s side are you on, as it IS NOT the Anerican People.
You ought to be ashamed of yourself and the entire USDA, especially after the terrorist threat that was sent out to NONAIS.org, which was traced to the USDA office.
Yeah, the USDA said it would investigate. Boy, do I feel better. The accomplices investigating the criminal. This will be covered up and swept under the rug quickly, won’t it.
You people will do ANYTHING to get this bogus program through.
As I said before, and now after that threat happened, EVERY SINGLE USDA PERSON AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS should be tagged, microchipped, premise id’d, etc. Seems as though we now really do need to be able to track USDA employees, especially when they pull things like this.
Comment Kim P. — September 1, 2006 @ 7:07 am
Walter; As I informed you on Wed. afternoon, my telephone line has mysteriously gone kaput. I manged to hook up a temporary line because the telephone company informs me that they cannot make correct repairs until Sept. 05.
This temporary line is working at about 50 percent reliability.
Terrific job by you of locating the source id of the computer used to send the threat! I am sure that you will continue to keep us posted re: any info you might receive as the internal investigation by USDA unfolds.
[Glad to hear you have something up and working. I was gone almost all Wednesday on a road trip. Catching up now… -WJ]
Comment Neil W. — September 1, 2006 @ 7:11 am
Hey Walter,
Just read the comment from #57. Me thinks you hit a nerve! Big Time!
Comment Kim P. — September 1, 2006 @ 11:56 am
Way ta Go Walter:)
Bout fell out of my chair what with your turnin the tables so ablely.
Glad your on our side, LMAO still.
respects, Wm
Comment Mr Dirty Nails — September 1, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
americancommunitysurvey
Here is another intrusion being imposed. Like the farm census some of us received people will be told they are mandated to answer all those personal questions.
Where do these people find the time and energy to keep coming up with all this nonsense?
Comment donna — September 1, 2006 @ 7:55 pm
Should have said, take a look at page 8.
Comment donna — September 1, 2006 @ 7:56 pm
I have been following this for years….like many didn’t really think it would effect me that much and besides it was a long way from happening. I wish I had gotten in on looking into the specifics ealier.
Is anyone like 20/20, 60 minutes, Primetime etc. been notified and if so why aren’t they getting on this obvious gov’t plot….for any better words don’t come to me at the moment.
I have notified all in my family that I will NOT succumb to a Nazi type of controlled program and I will fight for my Constitutional Rights.
Are their lawyers ready to test this? It seems there are good things happening. I did not see a booth for NAIS at the Idaho State Fair but I could have missed it. I do know that NAIS was at an annual Horse Expo…had I known I might have been arrested for asking them to explain to many Q’s…therefore harassing them.
The more I read and study this the more scared I get….the 20/20 program the other night was titled ‘Stupid in America’…..if the citizens don’t fight this with every once of their being we will be in BIG trouble…this would certainly be a term for the losers…US.
[I’ve tried to get them interested to no avail. Gather contact info (names, phone, email, postal mail) and we can storm them. Contact them yourself too. -WJ]
Comment Terry Jensen — September 3, 2006 @ 2:03 pm
Walter, I thought you might be interested in this. I received an odd e-mail. Nothing threatening, not a scam, I couldn’t figure out what it was. Honestly, I thought at first that it might be a writer sending me some odd, experimental work. So I tried to figure out who had sent it. I don’t have any idea how to check headers, but since the e-mail address wasn’t a normal e-mail provider, I decided to see if the web site would give me any ideas. The e-mail was from an odd string of letters at greenwayforms dot com. So I checked out GreenWayForms.com - guess what - they make, among other things, RFID tags. Somehow I don’t think this is a coincidence - and I’m pretty freaked out right now; if you don’t mind, could you archive my posts, this comment, and any other info you can think of in whatever safe places you stashed the other data. I don’t expect law enforcement to be a big help.
Their site claims they are a family owned business, so I don’t know if they are responsible, or someone else spoofed their e-mail address. I do think getting a weird e-mail from a domain involved in making RFID tags within a few days of trying to speak up on this is meant to send a message.
If you know how I could forward the message to you so as to preserve the headers, and you wanted to check them out, I’d be happy to do it. If you don’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole, I understand that, too.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — September 3, 2006 @ 6:50 pm
Update on my weird e-mail; I didn’t think to check it carefully until I saw that it seems to come from a place that makes RFID tags - this is *not* a normal e-mail. It only shows about one paragraph of text, but the message size is 77K - and when I open it, the generic “image” icon flashes briefly, but then disappears, leaving no indication that this is anything but plain text. Not even an option to show HTML. So is this some odd method of spying? God only knows, but I hope your readers will pray for me. I’m spooked right now, and I’m not even bothering to contact law enforcement, since I am sure after the rest of this they’ll do squat.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — September 3, 2006 @ 6:56 pm
Sorry, Walter, but I’m updating as I learn more. I clicked on “full headers” in my e-mail to see what I could find. It gave me an IP address - 189.135.103.236 so I went to the WhoIs link in this post and searched for it. It tells me it is under the control of LACNIC in Montevideo, Uruguay. It gives me a link for their database. So I clicked on the link, and searched their database. No matches found. Does anyone have any ideas?
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — September 3, 2006 @ 7:06 pm
Reading the headers further (I’m not used to this) I see that IP seems to have received the message from another IP (if I’m reading it right) - 189.135.194.144 - also LACNIC, also no match found. The “content type” box reads “multipart/related”, “type=”multipart/alternative”", “boundary=”—-=_NextPart_….” the ellipsis is replaced by something that looks similar to a Windows Registry CLSID - I don’t know if that’s normal or not.
I’m just trying to document all this. God knows what good it will do, but I can’t just sit here; I’ve got to try something.
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — September 3, 2006 @ 7:19 pm
Rereading this, it is mainly nonsense, but there are a few lines that could be taken as threats. Entire message text follows:
“I know, thats how he leaves you when he makes a set at you.
I say, if ye think of stoppin down here, youmight get in a ton of coal.
He had no feelings, and speech had gone out ofhim. But no two people can save their souls alive, in thesame way.
He liked the sea, the pale sea of green glass that fell insuch cold foam.
In factthey helped me to this attempt now.
Man that is born of woman is a slave in the cold,barren corridors of the ant-hill.
Then he opened his arms and held them outstretched, his headon one side.
Pleased with it down here all byyourselves? Tiger, tiger, burning bright, he resumed, sing-song, abstracted. He was not interested, so he sawnothing: he might as well have been blind. Though of course we may slay you in thescullery if you say a word against us.
I canfight them with their own weapons: the hard mandibles and the acid stingof the cold ant. Hes a wonder, is Kangaroo: and he keepson being a wonder.
Ha, he turned his face to thecentre of the seas, away from any land.
Neither is he flat just there, like you andme.
Theyre assharp as a lancet, and theyd tear the guts out of a man before he couldsqueak. William James flashed a quick look at him from his queer greyeyes. And justthen an ant happened to come on the tablecloth. And if I can make no one single woman happy, I will make none unhappyeither. Australians intheir heart of hearts hate anything but a bungalow.
You know you only want Lovat, to talk your MANS stuff.”
Note: “Though of course we may slay you in thescullery if you say a word against us.” There are a few other creepy lines in here, too. I thought it might be a writer, wasted or something, until I noticed the rest of it.
[Ray, this looks like typical drivel used to try to confuse Baysian anti-spam filters. They try to generate enough reasonable text to get take for a real email message instead of spam by automated filters. I use Baysian filters as part of my protection from the approximately 5,000 spam I get per day. It works fairly well when combined with other techniques. Often the text is randomly generated to try and not get pegged. The IP you mentioned is out of Mexico. Without seeing the whole thing including full headers I can’t tell a lot more. My guess is you got randomly spammed by someone who happens to do RFID tags. They probably sent to 30,000,000 people. I would not worry about it. -WJ]
Comment Ray Beere Johnson II — September 3, 2006 @ 7:25 pm
I think it’s kind of neat poetry, myself.:) Creepycoolnonsenewspeak. Creepy yes, but I’m certain that Walter has it right.
Take care, Doreen
Comment Doreen — September 4, 2006 @ 7:01 am
Just logging it here. Another USDA visitor has been on my blog yesterday and read 5 entries. Got there by Googling hen whisperer (note the space between hen and whisperer).
On Aug. 29th I wrote an entry titled “Greetings to the USDA NIAA APHIS“. Hope he/she read it.
I do so wish they’d stop. We are not the extreme opposition, as Dore Mobley has called us.
Sharon
Comment Henwhisperer — September 5, 2006 @ 6:39 am
I must be terribly extreme then.
A 47 year old mother with a few chickens and some aging horses along with a couple brush clearing goaties.
Closet terrorist.
How dangerous is my zucchini?? This time of year it could be a secret weapon!
I won’t comply either.
Comment Sue F — September 5, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
Count me in. I am 44 year old mother of one child age 7 who may end up in chains for not complying to the governments intrusion on my private life??? All I ever wanted was a small farm like I had when I was young girl to teach my child the lessons of life and science through animal husbandry and gardening. To be self-sufficicent and to learn what the true fruits of thy labor really is. And the government wants to punish us for that? I don’t get it. Perhaps I need to divorce, live in government housing and just get on welfare. Of course then the government would TRULY own me and my child wouldn’t they? Because I would depend on them for my very life and that of my child. I don’t THINK so! Live free or die as there is no life when one is a slave to their government.
Comment Goatster — September 5, 2006 @ 3:29 pm
I think it may be time we arm ourselves!
Oh, God–I’ve probably just pointed out an unknown source of WMD’s: weapons of messy desserts.
[I sent that to my sons. They will get a kick out of it. Will, 14, built a pneumatic water balloon launcher last year that shoots mortors (water balloons) about 325′. Very impressive - the barrel smokes after each shot… -WJ]
Comment Podchef — September 5, 2006 @ 7:00 pm
BTW-Many of us are receving ’surprise’ phone calls from either USDA or WSDA. Be ready. At the fair we encountered an enforcement type who asked how to preserve the small farm (but was in a hurry and wanted literature only, not the spiel) gave it to him. He said he was taking it back to the ‘office’ and get back with me. (Yeah right!) If you do a fair be ready to encounter some ‘interesting’ things. Ag is feeling the heat and certain entities are escalating their intimidation techniques. Is this a Class B movie or what?
Comment Celeste — September 6, 2006 @ 5:00 am
Regarding comment 65 and the new census survey:
I was sent a copy of this intrusive survey, plus 3 follow-up letters, *and* a follow-up telephone call. Interestingly, when they called they spoke with my adult son, not me. They asked for “the man of the house” and he replied “well, this is one of them.” Anyway, he played with the census bureau caller, said there wasn’t enough incentive to make him fill out the survey. The caller eventually threatened him with legal action…very intersting, since my son doesn’t live with us anymore and had only dropped in for a short visit. Anyway, I am sick and tired of government intrusion into my life; I just want to be left alone–don’t want anything from them, and won’t give anything to them beyond my tax dollars.
Comment Bkeepr — September 6, 2006 @ 5:23 am
NAIS is only one of many programs that are based on lies and are to make servants of the state,now called stakeholders, of the citizens.
Every citizen that wants to be a real property owner must fight and fight with facts. Organize an informational meeting in your area. http://libertyark.net/ is a great place to start and will help you get it together with how-tos. Many of us will speak in our areas but alone we can not organize all the meetings. We will show up, help you, but can’t do it all.
Get a group together for a meeting and we will come. We can and will do a meeting with the USDA reps there and local politicians.
Keep up the one on one information and keep flyers in all locations even barber shops and beauty parlors, anywhere there are people. There are many consumers out there that will lose access to good clean food, good choice and good prices if we do not inform them. Meet their needs in information and get them to these informational meetings. Think about it. Would you rather eat foods that are REALLY inspected, tested at packer level or have foods from self-policed packers with tags that do nothing to assure safety.
link this proves that USDA does not work for the consumer but for the packers. There are many more examples. Even with tests and verified findings the USDA seems to care less about safety.
When I grow my own I know what I have on the table and when I buy from a local little producer I know where my food came from and how it was raised. No quicker trace back than that.
[Federal Register: August 3, 2006 (Volume 71, Number
149)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 43958-43961]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr03au06-2]
This is the import rules that stops inspections on imports to US replacing them with occassional inspections. So much for safety. So much for USDA looking out for consumers.
Grass fed rewritten to feed lot fed. Consumers need to know that NAIS is not for their safety but to raise costs, lower quality, reduce choices and make their choices less safe to put on the table.
Do you want to eat a cow tagged or tested clean at packers with a test approved by USDA and EU? Let the packer test, let the packer be inspected not self-policed and let the small farmer, local farmer, hobby farmer, self use producer survive. Consumers will relate to these choices and outcomes. Get the information to them.
Comment Sue Karber — September 6, 2006 @ 1:02 pm
Hey Walter what was the outcome of USDA’s investigation into your terror threat? It shouldnt take them this long to get back to you with “it was an isolated incident and the culprit has been dealt with”. I wish to see their faces when you give them his name. Maybe instead of a farmer you should work for their office of investigations. You found him before they did.
[No word back from the USDA investigative team yet. -WJ]
Comment Susie Stretton — September 6, 2006 @ 9:34 pm
US CODE
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 13 >
§ 241. Conspiracy against rights
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate
any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in
the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by
the Constitution or laws of the United States… They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both
Comment Breederville — September 8, 2006 @ 1:22 pm
In response to your last addition to this entry I have received two hits to my weblog one late Spring and one mid-Summer from the USDA, I didn’t take the time to run the IP and haven’t been watching my stats since about mid-Summer anyway. I’ve been working my anti-NAIS campaign more offline these days than on. I’ll be keeping an eye on the stats as the weather cools and I take it back to my weblog.
Comment Steph — September 8, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
…so readers had enough?
Please consider supporting Libertarian candidates.
Check out New Hampshire Libertarian Party and take “the quiz”. You may be surprised to find out you hold some Libertarian view points, and (ulp) you might even be one and not know it! Even if you’re not Libertarian across the board, you are on the NONAIS issue!
Why should we be surprised that any bureacracy wants more power? The USDA is no different…I say stop NAIS now
and put fiscally responsible people in Government at all levels. The Federal Budget is a joke (nobody has ever read the darn thing it’s nearly impossible and weighs about a ton)and “they” want to add another layer of “protection”
on us…at what cost to our wallets and to our freedom, who knows? Well with all this wire tapping and protecting me from Terrorists and bird flu etc. I just sleep like a baby knowing Big Brothers got my back, yup sure I DO! Use your voice and vote the pigs out or it’ll get worse…there may be evil stuff “they” are hatching now we can only imagine! NAIS might be the proverbial tip of the ice-berg friend. Now is not the time to be complacent…NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT ! Don’t allow your candidates to be ambiguous or side step the issue if they favor NAIS IN ANY WAY, THROW THEIR ASSESS OUT!!!
Comment Bob Constantine — September 18, 2006 @ 5:55 pm
Just finished reading “Mad Sheep” by Linda Faillace. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking, how did they get up each day and function with the USDA threat over their heads? Then I realized that we ALL are living that way. We get up and we go on. In one of her later chapters, “The Empress Has No Clothes”, referring to USDA’s Linda Detwiler, she spoke of a report by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, “Evaluation of the Potential for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in the United States”. I searched for it, and for you sheep and goat lovers out there, here is the quote from that report (page 11).
“Currently, there is no evidence that sheep and goats can develop the disease after exposure to feed supplemented with contaminated animal protein.”
I have downloaded the report and intend to keep it handy, knowing that Big Government can lie about that report, too.
link
Walter, I was so impressed with the closeness of the folks in Vermont, and how they stuck by the Faillaces through the whole, continuing ordeal. You folks up there are really lucky to have such close-knit communities. I will add Vermont to the list of places I want to visit.
I recommend everyone buy this book. As I understand, at the time of the writing of the book, the Faillace’s have not received compensation from the USDA.
Comment Texas Goat Gal — September 20, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
I tried to get a few pieces published in some “Letters to the Editors” columns on this, but no one would even respond when I sent the piece, let alone publish it. I find this quite interesting, but not surprising.
That’s OK, I’m attempting to research publications that will not be afraid to cover NAIS and other things, such as this, that I hope will be on a more national basis.
The locals are fine if we can get them, but I do believe that national coverage is needed now.
Comment Kim P. — September 26, 2006 @ 11:25 am
Walter has said that this needs to be said, and that others need to know. All of you need to know that no matter how small you are to the USDA your feeling just don’t matter to them.
When I went in to check on my catalog last night I noticed the IP 8.11.2.90 address. then I went to my stats page to check hits on my website and it came up there as taking 37 hits. So I did a Arin
Who is search (IP address origins) and it came up as being from the
Level 3 Communications, Inc at Broomfield Colorado, 1025 Eldorado Blvd. The same that did the bio terrorism hit on the Vermont_Against_Nais and Walter Jefferies site. I told Susie Stretton (my sister in law) and she said to send it on to you that you were keeping up with such. Just so that there are records of it. I have a big website and have had one for several years at http://www.RunningMoonFarm.com. We sell our fibers, and wood work to Spinners and Weavers, Fiber Artist and such. We don’t market our animals, but have them for their fiber.
We have a booth at the fair grounds on the NAIS and yesterday a young man came and Susie asked him if he would like a flyer. He told her that “No, he thought he was part of the problem” and went
away. Later he came and dumb me I ask him if he wants a flyer and he said no that he knew about it and I asked him what he thought about it and to make a short story he said he did software for them
and computer stuff, that he thought it was a good thing. I asked him what he thought about the cost of it all and he said that LSU paid for all his animals and stuff so it was no concern to him. He
indicated he was a computer geek, and I think he was the one that probably dialed into the server at USDA to scope my site to see if we sold animals, which we do not. I don’t know, maybe I am just
becoming paranoid or something. I do a lot of my website work and am fairly proficient in the internet.
today Oct 7 it was up to 52 visits from the IP address 8.11.2.90. I just don’t understand how these people can get away with terrorising American Citizens. What has happened to our country when and Agency of the US Government can intimidate its Citizens, or do as they please to force us to do as they dictate. Margrett
Comment Margrett Stretton — October 7, 2006 @ 7:37 am
Sent over a month ago about the ‘terrorist’ threat originating at the USDA Office of the Chief Information Office, we received the following email response to my ‘urgent’ letter to our Representative in the House, Earl Pomeroy.
Who comes up with these ridiculous responses? Are our D.C. Reps so busy with their campaigns for re-election that office clones are actually running the ship?
October 6, 2006
Mr.& Mrs. Charles & Donna Kurszewski
Dear Charles and Donna:
I appreciate your forwarding me information about a comment placed on the NoNAIS.org website from an IP address located within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). I share your concerns over federal employees engaging in web posts related to the debate on animal identification, when they do not identify themselves as USDA employees. I will be sure to keep this in mind as Congress considers legislation about the NAIS in the coming months.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope you will continue to stay in touch.
Sincerely,
EARL POMEROY
Member of Congress
EP:KF
Now, why would I ‘continue to stay in touch’?
Comment donna — October 7, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
I have to offer comment about a couple things posted here. First of all, Americans are not allowed to make statements such as the one in reference- they are now considered terrorist in nature. That USDA employee needs to be fired from his position, but even more, his superiors need to be publicly grilled and fired, as he may actually be employed to do exactly what he is doing.
Second, I have to say that I post on several anti-NAIS sites. I am a horseman. I have attended anti-NAIS protests several times this year. I tend to be passionate in my posts sometimes. I can’t help it! I am fearful of people being complacent and not stopping the NAIS. I fear losing my way of life and I now fear being raided by a bunch of armed USDA/DoHS goons!I don’t know if my posts sound extreme to some- I could possibly sound “Extreme” in response to some of the news such as the Henshaw attack, and also about how the 60 UK farmers committed suicide when their animals were slaughtered and burned. I am writing to say that I guess I actually expect people to sympathize with how I feel, about what seems to me, to be a vile threat to everything I know and live for in my life. How can a person NOT react passionately about that if they have any spine at all?? So I need to write in defense of my position on sites, just in case my posts are ones that sound “Extreme” to some. I don’t think they sound extreme, but then again I know I’m pretty much harmless. I’m just a horse lover! I also think “extreme situations” instigate extreme reactions and blame needs to be laid with the instigator, not the responder. Like NAIS is what is the extreme, not the response from the normal people in defense of the “Extreme situation”. So in other words, lets understand that the situation is what is extreme, and warrants a firm stand in opposition. Lets not punish the people who may be trying to rally the complacent out of their comfy living room chairs to actually DO something for a change! I’m not talking about anything violent- I would NEVER think violence is the answer, nor would I ever hope anybody would take up arms. But I know most people only type, and do nothing else- no posting of flyers, no protesting, no advertising-nothing. I have never wanted to be violent. However, I do think a person has the right to protect their own property from intruders. By law, we are allowed to defend ourselves from intruders. I believe in that for sure. And by the way, I am no USDA baffoon either!! I need to know that I am not a coward and I do not sit idly by while an entire govt. wants to wipe out all of our small farm livestock goals. So just in case my posts on other sites are viewed as extreme, I would hope people understand that it is the extreme situations that cause passionate responses in people, as it should. Not everybody is meek and spineless, or reserved. There would be no America at all if everybody was always reserved and “complacently careful” about every word or response. If I have a rant, I would expect to find support here, not opposition to my opposition! And especially when it is not violent. Not all of us are reserved and well versed in subtleties, and I don’t think we should be condemning those people who are afterall- ON OUR SIDE. I am somebody that is straight forward, to the point, and I am not afraid to state my mind. That is an asset in any opposition. The more reserved people need to understand that sometimes the developments with this NAIS garbage are really frightening to people- especially the latest events. Please try not to condemn people for posting in response to something that is very frightening to them. For instance several people I know of have family members that survived the Holocaust. Those people know what can happen, and they also post according to their own family’s experiences and knowledge that is clearly more extensive in these areas than most of ours. So please don’t be quick to condemn, and try to understand.
Comment Sabrina — October 13, 2006 @ 12:57 am
Storm Alert; Government is Making You a “Terrorist!”
link
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (H.R. 4239) and “Terrorism”
Posted by brownfemipower on 28 Oct 2006 at 08:16 am | Tagged as: actions and organizing
URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
Tell Congress Activism Isn’t “Terrorism.”
Don’t Lose Your Voice for the Voiceless (Animals).
The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (H.R. 4239) would label a wide range of activism as “terrorism” if it “damages” an animal enterprise, or any business connected to an animal enterprise.
The AETA has passed the Senate unanimously and is currently pending in the House. Industry groups are trying to steamroll it through
Congress as soon as lawmakers return from recess November 13.
The AETA would impact all kinds of activists, including
environmentalists, social justice advocates and vegetarian outreach
campaigners. Animal activists may be the first target of this scare-mongering, but they won’t be the last.
Talking Points
The AETA is Vague and Overly Broad. The AETA isn’t just about illegal actions like breaking windows or rescuing animals from fur farms. It
includes penalties for “non-violent physical obstruction” and actions that do not harm people or property. It could label civil disobedience, whistleblowing, undercover investigations and aggressive
—yet nonviolent—campaigns as “terrorism” if they hurt corporate profits.
The AETA Limits Free Speech.
Labeling nonviolent actions as
“terrorism” and prosecuting them as federal crimes will have a chilling effect on free speech.
You shouldn’t have to be afraid of being labeled a “terrorist” for speaking up for animals.
Corporate Profits Aren’t a National Security Priority.
There are better ways to spend scarce anti-terrorism resources than protecting
corporate interests and targeting animal activists as “terrorists.”
What You Can Do
• Contact your U.S. Representatives, beginning November 13, and urge
them to protect free speech and oppose this legislation.
For Congressional contact information, visit www.congress.org. Use the
talking points above.
• Distribute copies of this alert to anyone concerned about civil liberties and NAIS.
• Keep updated on the AETA and for more detailed information, visit
stopaeta.organd noaeta.org.
Dean A. Ayers
link
Comment Dean A. Ayers — October 28, 2006 @ 9:39 pm
Sabrina, You are not alone in your feelings and you are not extreme. We are all scared of the NAIS and what can happen to our beloved animals. My life has been placed on hold thanks to the USDA and everyone else who is involved in this most insane program. Our politicians are not listening to us. How do you stop this crazy program when the Feds are threathening the states by with holding federal money. It will take each and everyone to say stop. Many people I talk to dont care that it affect my horses even down to how groceries are.
Comment Gisela — October 30, 2006 @ 12:08 am
“…so what assurance do we have that USDA employees angry and bitter over opposition to this program might not act on their own to increase the risks of, or even deliberately introduce, infectious diseases into the food supply?…”
I think USDA Agents already have. The particular agent I have in mind is an Animal Rights Type according to what she has published on the net, her actions, and what she has said in person to me. Because of an on going lawsuit I have been asked to keep quiet. But I will say this:
She made threats to a certain livestock farmer. (Repeated to me at the time) A month or so later he was up to his neck in lawsuits. I followed the situation as it unfolded through telephone conversations. The agent in question spent 2 days inspecting his animals. All were found healthy. A few days’ later lots of people were ill and he was sued. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) said at the time, this was the first time they had seen the bacteria in that species of animal. The USDA agent routinely inspected the typical host animal of the bacteria.
The incident received national coverage and put a real scare in John Q. Public. As a trained scientist I smelled a rat from the get go. The data just did not add up. It had to be staged. Because I had an incident staged by Animal Rights Activists during the same time I thought they were the culprits. How ever this agent had the knowledge (she is a vet) the means, the opportunity, a real bad attitude and had made threats. I also think she is an Animal Rights plant at the USDA.
Given the above incident, the raid on the Hensell pigs and the raid on the imported milking sheep, it sheds a whole new light on the MAD dairy cow. Dairy cows are inspected by the USDA, what is the ratio of beef to dairy in the USA? ….. Makes one think…
Also of interest: I use animals to entertain the public. In three years time I had eleven incidents staged by animal rights activists. These should have gotten me sued if I had not done fast damage control and prevented any injuries. I am very small and very low profile yet I was still hit. In the two years since the above situation, I have not seen hide or whisker of the animal rights types. I guess their goal of getting national coverage of an animal scare incident was achieved.
Comment narapoid — December 7, 2006 @ 7:26 am
The following is not directly related to NAIS but it is recent history that gives the context for the posting I made above. In all of this I was at ground zero.
My boss was on the committee formed by top Execs from McDonalds Hamburgers, Sweetheart Plastics and Polysar. McDonalds was going to use all polystyrene, Sweet Heart was going to form it and Polysar was going to recycle it. The joint project was going to employ the handicapped and property for the new plant had been purchased in Leominster MA. One month before the TV commercials announcing this joint project were to air, a “school teacher” in New Hampshire stage a nation wide media blitz against Polystyrene. As a chemist I can tell you the stuff was LIES! McDonalds switched to paper (kill another tree) Sweetheart and Polysar closed down 5 plants in Mass alone. Three top corporations were unable to refute the lies spread by “one” schoolteacher.
Next an article appeared on the back pages of “The Wall Street Journal” April? 1994, It stated appears were found in the Kremlin showing not only KGB $$ were used by American activist groups but many of the groups were headed by KGB agents. (Closely orchestrated was the term actually used). One of the people my husband knew suddenly lost his funding for his free radical newspaper. My husband worked with his niece and she told him her uncle was on the KGB payroll. At a dance in Cambridge MA my Husband and I made the mistake of letting people know we believed in freedom. A guy came up to my husband and ranted ”When we take over the USA we are going to kill people like you!” It was scary.
Shortly after that MA started forming the “Conte Wildlife Refuge”. It was to include most of the state except Boston. Within the refuge a farmer had to file a yearly plan detailing crops to be planted, livestock, trees cut, fences put in….My husband and I decided that was enough, so we moved.
I want to work as a Quality Lab Manager at a plant making aircraft turbine blades. I had to certify our product based on the lab results from my techs. Once it was discovered I was honest, I started to have a lot of problems. It took me two years but I finally nailed one of the troublemakers and identified two others. When I tried to fire my direct report, I was vetoed by Corporate. A week later I got the goods on a second trouble maker, showed it to the plant manager a 4:30PM and was FIRED at 7:30 AM the next day!!
Three planes went down and the malfunctions were traced back to this company. 9-11 had just happen. I contacted the Feds, congressman, senators, media. The result, I am now blackballed and can not get a job in my field. TELL ME HOW A SCHOOLTEACHER GOT A NATION WIDE MEDIA BLITZ GOING WHEN I WASN’T ABLE TO GET ANYWHERE AFTER 9-11
I may be paranoid but my personal experience make me think a lot of the stuff we are seeing in the news was staged to push the public the way the USDA wants them to go. If the “polystyrene scare” was staged the bio-terrorism scares could certainly be staged.
Comment narapoid — December 7, 2006 @ 10:17 am
If you haven’t visited Free to Farm recently, there are many good articles, including one on “cooperative agreements”. Click on “What’s New” for the 12 articles.
link
Merry Christmas to all anti-NAISers and all who love freedom.
Comment Texas Goat Gal — December 24, 2006 @ 4:55 pm
I am back, and had time to read all 12 articles that Bruno has posted on his website (link above in #94. Maybe it’s just because I like that he gives us hope of how not to participate, but I think all of these articles are dynamite and everyone should read them — sooner rather than later. They are a MUST read in my book. I would love to hear others’ feedback after reading them.
Comment Texas Goat Gal — December 27, 2006 @ 3:59 pm
I just read the 12 articles, and I agree that he does give some hope. I sent his website to a few people, in hopes that they will read the 12 articles, If anything it will scare them in not signing up as it is free rein for takeover on our land, animals and what ever else they want.
I plan on ordering his book tomorrow. What Bruno has done to help in the fight, I feel the money is well worth it and who knows he might need it to update his book for us. thank you Bruno for you hard work.
Comment Gisela — December 28, 2006 @ 2:23 am
Gisela, thanks for concurring. I have had the book the months, and would recommend it. At least one of his articles will be included in my next set of hand-outs.
Comment Texas Goat Gal — December 28, 2006 @ 10:34 am
Everyone near Eagar, Arizona! I know this is short notice, but I just found this on the internet this minute. There is a land rights and management seminar Friday evening and Saturday at the Eagar high school auditorium. The admission is only $5 Friday and $10 Saturday, with free admission for anyone under 18. I have attended some of their seminars before, and I don’t think anyone would be disappointed. Sheriff Richard Mack is one of the speakers. He was the sheriff that put his job on the line when he refused to comply with the Brady law. Also, the Paragon Foundation will speak, and others. I hope someone can go and report to us all about our rights as landowners. Here is the link:
link
Comment Texas Goat Gal — March 7, 2007 @ 6:39 pm
I have been searching for a list like this for months, and today it fell in my lap. It concerns the largest land owners in America. Wonder how many of these ordinary folks will be required to get their premises ID and tag those huge herds.
I tried several ways to get this article, but the easiest way is below. While you are on the Hour of the Time website, you might stay a while and read other articles. They also have an online radio program.
link
Click on “newslinks” at the top of the page, then click on “As of April 23rd, all newslinks will be available here”. Next, click on “The Land Report 100″.
[I wasn’t able to find this article. I am rather curious… -WalterJ]
Comment Texas Goat Gal — April 26, 2007 @ 11:48 am
Walter, I was not able to pull up the article by trying the web address that was posted with the article, but I just this minute ran through the instructions I gave above, and it worked fine. That is why I gave this convoluted way to get there. The article, “Land Report 100″ is several articles down the page. Let me know if I have not given clear instructions. Thanks.
[I must have just done it wrong the first time. It worked for me now. Thanks! Here’s a direct link to the article that should work. Investing in land is wise - they aren’t make any more land and the population keeps swelling. Real land, not the bubble markets, appreciates and you can always live on it and off of it’s harvests. Perhaps we can get other large land owners to back our fight against NAIS. It will certainly be a burden for them. Many large land owners both won’t see much benefit and also tend to be very independent minded… So who do you know who’s on that list, or not, that owns large amounts of land and will join our fight? Cheers, -WalterJ]
Comment Texas Goat Gal — April 26, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Or, try this link:
link
Click on “More Headlines”, then on “Top 100 Landowners” on the left sidebar.
Comment Texas Goat Gal — April 26, 2007 @ 2:52 pm