register to post a FREE, SILVER (2 Profiles), or GOLD (5 Profiles), list your EVENTS *free* (5 max.) and SUBSCRIBE to updates

UPDATE ~ RAW MILK legal Wrangling Michael Schmidt in Ontario - Update from the Queens Charlottes

Posted September 10th, 2011 by editor

Even though Michael Schmidt, the now celebrated Ontario Raw Milk farmer was acquitted in January 2010 of all 19 raw milk related charges arising from the November 2006 raid on his Glencolton Farms, the Province of Ontario filed an appeal of that verdict. That appeal was heard this past spring and a verdict is to be rendered this September 16th. This post from the http://thebovine.wordpress.com by Michael Schmidt which he calls "Seven days left until the raw milk appeal verdict" is one of a series, counting down the last days until the announcement of that verdict. His writings, his fund-raising symphonies and his "big" inspiring attitude make defending himself, the Raw Dairy Rights and our Food Security issues look and feel like an honourable, lofty, positive worthy cause that is a harbinger of new beginnings - just a matter of time and determination for good to prevail over pettyness and colusion... soon... soon (7X)
"I bet those investigators, health officials and law offices with the mandate to keep a file of all these postings are shaking their heads about these postings of symbolism.
"I think that is the beauty of this forum that we by default give them a chance to expand their horizon.
Nothing is cut and dry. Everything has a purpose and a meaning. Even these seven days until the ruling. Why not use that as part of another perspective to look at the world.
"I find it extremely interesting and inspiring to reflect on these numbers and what they mean.
Yes may be those who keep watching us start to think that it is not worth fighting with us anymore because we are completely coo-coo.

But maybe they even start reading some of our quiet reflections and thoughts and begin to understand that there is more to the world than seven rules. There is a meaning in numbers; there is a purpose in numbers and there is no sense to have 500,000 regulations because the only symbol of this number 500,000 is insanity and that is nothing they can brag about.

Law of Seven – Heptaparaparshinokh
The first of these fundamental primordial sacred cosmic laws, namely the law of Heptaparaparshinokh, is formulated by cosmic Objective Science in the following words: The flow of forces follows a line that constantly deflects at specific intervals and unites again at its ends. According to this primordial sacred cosmic law, the line of the flow of forces has seven points of deflection or, as is otherwise said, seven ‘centers of gravity,’ and the distance between two consecutive points of deflection, or ‘centers of gravity,’ is called a ‘stopinder’ of the sacred Heptaparaparshinokh.’ The complete process of this sacred law, acting through everything newly arising and existing, is always made up of seven stopinders.

The number Seven has been used since time immemorial to describe the creations and ordinances of God and the subsequent patterns that appear in the natural world. Here are a few examples :

Early Indian Music

In one view, cosmic sound (nāda) is the cause of the material universe and it is identifed with the Brahman of the Upanişads. Nāda is synonymous with parāvāk, and it comes in two forms: āhata (perceptible sound), and anāhata (unstuck or absolute sound). Music is the elevated form of āhata nāda whereas anāhata nāda can be cognized only through Yoga. The two kinds have a close relationship, and a śruti, a small interval of sound, represents their joining. The texts tell us that 22 śrutis span the seven notes of the saptaka. The problem as to why this subdivision Early Indian Music 3 has 22 elements has concerned musicologists for a long time. It is also not clear why the śrutis are divided non-uniformly into groups of four, three, and two into musical notes in Bharata’s Nāţya Śāstra. The saptaka, the “series of seven” – the same as the octave or the “series of eight” of Western music – spans a doubling of frequency. The seven notes of the saptaka are named sa (for şad.ja), ri (ŗşabha), ga (gāndhāra), ma (madhyama), pa (paňcama), dha (dhaivata), and ni (nişāda).

The seven fundamental tones of the octave express the law of seven. The addition to it of the Do of the next octave, that is to say, the crowning of the process, gives the eighth step. (ISOM137)

*******

According to Ouspensky there are Seven systems of Symbolism :

symbolism of numbers

symbolism of geometrical figures

symbolism of letters

symbolism of words

symbolism of magic

symbolism of alchemy

symbolism of astrology

and the symbolism of Tarot, which unites them into one whole.

7 Colors – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Violet, (and White which unites them into one whole)

7 Planets – Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn.

(7th planet, Saturn, from Cassini orbiter. NASA photo above).

7 Personality Types – Solar, Lunar, Martial, Mercurial, Jovial, Venusian, Saturnine.

7 Days of Week – Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

7 Metals – Lead, Tin, Iron, Copper, Mercury, Silver, Gold.

7 Chakras – Muladhara, Svadhisthana, Manipura, Anahata, Vishuddha, Ajna, Sahasrara.

7 Stages of Alchemy – Calcination, Dissolution, Separation, Conjunction, Fermentation, Distillation, Coagulation.

7 Days of creation

7 Seals in the Book of Revelations.

7 Used 77 times in the Old Testament.

7 Sacraments in Christianity – Baptism, Penance, Marriage, Communion, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Last Rites.

7 Gifts of the Holy Ghost are, Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and the Fear of the Lord.

7 Virtues in Christianity – Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Justice, Prudence, Temperance.

7 Vices in Christianity -Pride, Envy, Anger, Sloth/dejection, Avarice, Gluttony, Lust.

*******

7 Times Christ spoke on the Cross

1. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

3. To his mother: “Woman, this is your son.” Then to the disciple: “this is your mother.”

4. “Eli, Eli, lema sabackthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

5. “I thirst.”

6. “It is finished.”, “It is accomplished.”

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

*******

7 Sorrows of Mary

The sorrow of the prophecy of Simeon.

The sorrow of the flight into Egypt.

The sorrow of the loss of the Child Jesus in the temple.

The sorrow of meeting Jesus on the Way of the Cross.

The sorrow of the Crucifixion.

The sorrow of the taking down of the Body of Jesus from the Cross.

The sorrow of the burial of Jesus.

*******

7 Joys of Mary

Mary joyfully conceived Jesus by the Holy Ghost.

Mary joyfully carried Jesus when she visited Elizabeth.

Mary joyfully brought Jesus into the world.

Mary joyfully exhibited Jesus to the adoration of the Magi.

Mary joyfully found Jesus in the Temple.

Mary joyfully beheld Jesus after his resurrection.

Mary joyfully received by Jesus into heaven, and crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth.

Shakespeare’s 7 Ages of Man – the infant, the school-boy, the lover, the soldier, the judge, the elderly man, the senile one.

*******

7 Sciences, namely, grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy; – the first three being included in the Trivium, the remaining four in the Quadrivium.

7 Wonders of the World – Pyramids of Egypt, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Statue of Zeus at Olympia, Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, Mausoleum of King Mausolus at Halicarnassus, Colossus of Rhodes, Pharos lighthouse at Alexandria.

7 Seven Seas – Arctic, Antarctic, North and South Pacific, North and South Atlantic and the Indian Ocean

7 Seven Sisters; an old name of Pleides star system

7 Parts to the embryo – Amnion, Chorionic Villi, Spinal Cord, Heart, Brain, Umbilical Cord, Yolk Sac.

7 Parts of the body – Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Two Arms, Two Legs.

7 Parts of the human head – two nostrils, two ears, two eyes and the mouth.

7 Main organs – Brain, Heart, Genitals, Lungs, Liver, Kidney, Stomach.

7 Glands – Pituitary, Pineal, Thyroid, Thymus, Pancreas, Sex, Adrenals.

7 Divisions to the brain – Cerebrum, Cerebellum, Pons Varolii, Medulla Oblongatta, Corpus Callosum, Spinal Cord, Meninges.

7 Parts to the inner ear – Vestibule, Auditory Canal, Tympanic Membrane, Ossicles, Semi-circular Canal, Cochlea, Membranous Labyrinth.

7 Parts to the retina – Cornea, Aqueous Humor, Lens, Vitreous Humor, Retina, Sclera, Iris.

7 Cavaties to the heart – Right and Left Ventrical, Right and Left Atrium, Tricuspid Valve, Mitral Valve, Septum.

7 layers of the skin – Stratum Corneum, Stratum Lucidum, Stratum Granulosum, Prickle Cell Layer, Basal Cell Layer, Corium, Hair Follicle.

7 Bodily functions – Respiration, Circulation, Assimilation, Excretion, Reproduction, Sensation, Reaction.

7 levels in the Periodic Table of the Elements.

+++++++++++++++++

March 26, 2010. Raw milk is still flowing on Haida Gwaii even after a recent BC Supreme Court ruling banned the sale of it in the province. "After all, the cows aren't taps and don't turn off when the going gets tough," say Lisa Graham Knight, who runs a small cow-share co-op from Maude Island. She isn't certain what the ruling will mean for her program. "I have not been contacted by Northern Health or the Ministry of Agriculture BC, but I am expecting an interruption, as this ruling was in the Supreme court," she told the Observer by email. This aricle by Heather Ramsay of the Queen Charlotte Islands Observer at: http://www.qciobserver.com/Article.aspx?Id=4385

Michael Schmidt wins his Raw Milk law suit! See http://www.thebovine.wordpress.com for the details! In BC, if the Supreme Court grants the injunction Fraser Health seeks, that does NOT mean that Alice Jongerden, BC's main Cow-op cow-share person has to stop looking after her herd. She can do everything up to, but not "packaging". At that point, Gordon Watson will take over the packaging / filling the jars / marketing of the concept / spreading the word and information / dealing with the media and deseminating information and making home deliveries, as he did when BC's largest cow-op first started.
This will set him up for prosecution for contempt of Court. He's been through seven of them, three of which he won. Believe it or not, he's even prosecuted two of them himself, having been acknowledged by Her Majesty's Courts as a private prosecutor, even though he is not a member of the Law society. Point being, as trivial and ridiculous as that 'track record is', he does know more about this topic than most people. He seems ready to get at it.
The raw milk issue has attracted much more attention than he'd guessed at the very early outset back in 2001. "I think the Public understands that what this is about and where the line ought to be drawn as to private property rights versus the Public Interest.
"For comic relief, consider the statements of the Chief Medical Health Officer, Dr. Perry Kendall about raw milk, versus heroin. His professional opinion is that raw milk is very dangerous, but heroin is OK. A couple of days ago, the Court of Appeal ruled that, despite heroin being a controlled substance under federal law, the "Insite" can stay open so addicts get their drugs. That's the second round of Court proceedings, after the federal government refused to extend special permission for the place to continue as a sociological experiment."
Dr. Kendall is quoted in the media saying that the place ought to stay open, and the federal government ought not to appeal the decision to the Supreme court of Canada.
"So free heroin addicts shooting up while the taxpayers foot the bill, is OK with the Powers-that-Be, but those of us who underwrite our own private dairy in order to provide food for ourselves - without a dime of subsidy from the public purse - are criminals!
"My thrust right now is on derailing the hearing of the Fraser Health Petition, set for February 1st. At the same time, I'm getting ready to go ahead if we are forced to, that day. Fortunately, I did most of the spadework when preparing my appeal of the first Order slapped on us, back in July 2008.  I'll be photocopying my brains out, to get the Response in to the Petitioner's lawyer.
"Ideally, the matter will be adjourned well into the future, so I can line-up Michael Schmidt, Mark McAffee, Sally Fallon and David Gumpert to take the stand as expert witnesses!
"Meanwhile, we will just keep on a'dairying.

more at http://www.freewebs.com/bovinity

a bit of background on the actions pof the BC Health Authorities

IN December / January, BC Health Authorities trotted-out so-called "lab results", which seemed to show that milk from our dairy was 'contaminated'. Samples of our milk were seized, and tested up to 6 days later, after being kept at the wrong temperature. Then the fabricated results were blazed to the media as though our Agister was putting out 'dirty diseased milk'. I pointed out that these people - who are supposed to know all about food safety - had not bothered to handle the samples as they were bound to, under the Milk Industry Standards Regulation.
Below is a piece from David Gumpert's website about the same thing happening in Colorado last year. What a co-incidence that some of this was repeated in BC, note for note! I believe that the way the officials 'mis-handled the samples' here, too, was no accident. It works so well in the psycho-drama played out time and time again, attempting to ruin raw milk dairies.

Health Authorities' fear-mongering initially gets tremendous media attention, yet with no real evidence... allegations of some anonymous child sick in the hospital are the closest they come. The ten-day wonder subsides when they fail to come up with the neccessary evidence linking real sick people to a given batch of raw milk. At which point the officials aren't nearly so mouthy... they just slink away from their slanders; no downside for them while the negative image about that dairy lingers in the public mind.

from http://www.thecompletepatient.com
One of the most emotional issues around the anti-raw-milk campaign by federal and many state authorities is that of illnesses. I guess the question boils down to this: Should we believe the authorities, who are committed to shutting off the supply of raw milk, to investigate and analyze illnesses that may or may not be the result of raw milk consumption?
We now face this question with the recent issuance of a report by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment about the campylobacter outbreak last spring at Scott Freeman’s dairy. It’s something I’ve reported on previously, and which Scott Freeman refers to in a comment following my previous post. I’ve spent some time reviewing the state’s documents, and I should say, I started off wanting very much to be highly critical. I do have criticisms, but I came away impressed with the thoroughness of the investigation as presented in the report. When I say that, I’m trying to allow for the fact that we’re not going to get a Presidential commission type of investigation — remember, we’re dealing with a public health department that has lots of reports of illness from restaurants and other places to look into, and must prioritize its work.
In this case, public health officials personally interviewed 159 of Scott Freeman’s 208 shareholders. I know some raw milk advocates will read all kinds of biases into the report, and certainly a number are present (which I’ll discuss). But after allowing for those (nearly a given when it comes to the public health community’s attitudes toward raw milk), the report is enlightening from both positive and
negative perspectives.
On the negative side:
The number of people sickened was quite high, according to the report. It states: “There were a total of 81 cases identified in this Campylobacter outbreak… Thirty-one percent of all shareholder households reported at least one person with illness that met the case definition, which is a substantial attack rate.” When you consider that data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control shows that in the period 1973-2005 there was an average of 54 illnesses per year, one outbreak of 81 cases is a lot. It’s important to note, as well, that only one of the illnesses was serious enough to require hospitalization. The department made a strong case that sanitation at the Kinikin Dairy wasn’t up to snuff. “The milking parlor was inadequately built/constructed shed which failed to meet the minimum standards prescribed in the Pasteurized Milk Ordinance or the Manufactured Milk Regulations, as well as the standards described on the dairy’s own raw milk website. The floor consisted of dirt and hay, and was soiled with manure. The interior was unfinished plywood, with openings directly to the outside around the door and other various points within the structure. Overall the structure was not clean nor in good repair. Animals other than cows (dog, chicken) entered the milking area during the visit. The milk room/house (storage area) was well constructed and had the minimum of equipment. There was evidence of manure being tracked into the milk house… There were no handwashing facilities in the milking parlor. Sanitizing solution was not used to sanitize the Mason jars used to bottle the milk, and on the day of inspection, there was no chlorine sanitizing solution present.”
The investigation highlighted tensions between farmers and public health officials. Scott Freeman initially cooperated with officials. But when he continued to make milk available to shareholders after the Dept of Public Health and Environment requested he end sales, the department issued an order prohibiting distribution. He says he continued the distribution because shareholders requested he do so, and because they own the cows, he was obligated to do so. (Documents associated with the exchange between Scott Freeman and the department are contained in an appendix.)
The department never found campylobacter in the dairy’s milk. Would that it were so straightforward. It found evidence of campylobacter via a PCR test (polymerase chain reaction, which identifies genetic material from campylobacter), but noted that such tests were not part of its usual protocol, and therefore not conclusive in and of themselves. Further complicating the situation, according to the report, the testing of milk samples was limited, apparently because of the department’s own screwups in handling milk testing samples. “Three additional milk samples were collected on April 22, May 1 and May 6 but were rejected by the laboratory because they were not delivered in the necessary time frame or did not have documentation that they were held at the correct temperature during transit, which is required for formal regulatory milk testing, although is often not required during outbreak investigations.” It would have been intriguing if those three additional tests had shown no evidence of campylobacter. It seems as if the public health people were sloppy in their handling of the samples, which isn’t comforting, given the public health hazard. Inference was the order of the day — based on the prevalence of raw milk drinkers among those with campylobacter, officials concluded raw milk was the culprit. (I think the public health officials make an important point that campylobacter isn't easy to pinpoint in any food.)
The department’s negative attitude toward raw milk pervades its conclusions: “Unpasteurized milk has been the source of numerous outbreaks in the past, in Colorado and other states. Another Campylobacter outbreak associated with unpasteurized milk from a cow share operation occurred in Larimer County in 2005. Outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli O157 and Listeria associated with unpasteurized milk have been documented in other states and have resulted in deaths and cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome. Fortunately this outbreak involved only one hospitalization and no deaths. With the increasing number of cow share programs, outbreaks associated with unpasteurized milk are likely to continue in Colorado."
"Numerous" outbreaks in Colorado, yet all it can come up with is one, four years previous? And “resulted in deaths”? Like any number of governmental authorities, it makes this assertion, even though there aren’t any known deaths from raw milk since at least the 1980s.

On the positive side:
The department made recommendations to Scott Freeman to improve his sanitation. As I noted earlier, it concluded that sanitation was lacking at the milk parlor. So the department recommended installing hand-washing facilities and improving washing of equipment and bottles to improve sanitation, and he adopted the suggestions. Isn't education part of the public health department's role in life?
One of the most interesting pieces of data from the public health investigation is a survey of the shareholders’ reasons for drinking raw milk. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is buried in the reports (table 7 of Appendix 2), rather than highlighted. It shows the two most popular reasons being that it’s more nutritious and better tasting (than pasteurized milk), with substantial numbers saying raw milk helps relieve their allergies, improves their immune systems, and enables them to overcome lactose intolerance. There aren't many such surveys around - it's useful information that helps document why so many people are willing to take whatever small risk might be involved to consume raw milk.
One of the messages that comes through loud and clear from the report is that investigations of food-borne illness are as much art as science. It’s a form of detective work. As a result, when I read a report like this, covering 81 illnesses, and then see the repeated invocation of the mantra that we have 76 million cases of food-borne illness each year, it’s hard not to be skeptical. The only way to characterize that 76 million number is as a wild estimate, and it underlies the current push for draconian limitations on food producers being proposed in the
current food safety legislative push.
I’ll be curious to read Scott Freeman’s take. I know he disagrees with a number of conclusions, most importantly, the one that lays the blame for the campylobacter outbreaks on his dairy. He may have good arguments, but I sense in all this that the public health professionals made a good-faith professional effort to figure out what might have gone wrong at his dairy, despite their own biases. It’s a situation everyone can learn from, and hopefully that’s what will happen, as opposed to ongoing recriminations.

a bit of background on Gordon Watson... in his own words...
For the last sixty years, American agriculture was industrialized. The marketing boards dictated winners and losers in the system churning out vast quantities of food. The perception of abundance is accomplished by sacrificing quality and diversity. Customers are deceived with quaint images of cows grazing in sunny fields, but the truth is, the thin, denatured, devitalized whitish fluid inside cartons of 'homo milk' came from a factory farm. The movement to regain our heritage food - fresh clean whole milk produced on family farms - threatens that monopoly
Since REAL MILK was not available, I organized a little dairy and have assisted it for two and a half years, as we went from one cow to 27. We own the cows. We pay the farmer in advance to do the work for us. We don't advertise. Every one of our shareholders sought out this arrangement personally. Whether the Public Health Act has jurisdiction over our private property, at all, is debatable.
Spokesmen keep mentioning the Milk Industry Act so as to leave the impression that we've been breaking the law. Read if for yourself. Notice the distinction between 'producer' versus 'vendor'. Our cowshare is indeed a 'producer', but we are not a 'vendor'. Since our milk never enters-in to commerce, we are not caught by the requirement to cook the milk on its way to market. Since when is it a crime to co-operate in farming to get food for ourselves (think of CSA's)...?
What particularly galls me is, spokesmen playing the lowdown dirty card: "the presence of fecal material." Not letting on that e coli is common in nearly all foodstuffs. Its mere presence is not what counts. What matters is the quantity of such bacteria.
I have yet to see any proof of the allegation that someone got sick from drinking milk from our dairy. Last week the Authorities trotted-out some numbers, ostensibly lab. test results on samples of our milk show high bacteria counts.
I'm suspicious because of the way Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health treated us previously. In June 2008, we'd been operating for a year. Suddenly our agister (farmer) received an Order to Cease + Desist "distributing". As part of appealing it in Supreme Court, I used the Freedom of Information process to obtain inter-governmental emails which showed officials knew they needed a complaint to act, yet did not have one. Thus, issuance of that Order was an abuse of process.
To this day, their lawyer refuses to produce the name of the purported 'complainant'.
Point being: I caught these same people lying before... why believe them now?
I urge readers to get the facts. Think for yourselves. Go down to Washington State where wonderful raw milk is retailed, perfectly legally, from dozens of licenced farms. Find out what you've been missing! Then contact the Ministrix of Healthy Living, Ida Chong and ask her why farmers are prevented from doing the same here?

Gordon S Watson, a wanna-be farmer

UPDATE ~ RAW MILK legal Wrangling Michael Schmidt in Ontario - Update from the Queens Charlottes

The Healing Journal Alerts

Blogroll