Although in title this sounds like something that would be beneficial, if one looks closer into the fine print (which is something we should always do and have started to be more effective at recently), this is something very dangerous to competition and the free-market.

Freedom of Speech Depends on Free-Markets, and having a governmental organization regulate the Internet is something that may be ineffective, unprofitable, and dangerous to our freedom of speech.

Please research this bill, and visit: http://netcompetition.org/index.php

Beltsville, MD –SARE Outreach announces a new planning resource for farmers seeking sound, science-based guidelines for managing crop rotations in organic farming. Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual helps farmers avoid crop rotation problems and use rotations to build better soil; control pests, weeds and diseases; and develop profitable farms. Consulting with expert organic farmers, the authors share rotation strategies that can be applied under various field conditions and with a wide range of crops.

“The purpose of this book is to help growers and farm advisors use crop rotations to build better soil, control pests, and develop profitable farms that support satisfied families,” says editor Charles Mohler, a senior research associate at Cornell University.

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms is most applicable for the Northeast but will also be useful in other regions.

Published by the Natural Resource, Agriculture and Engineering Service (NRAES) and funded in part by SARE, the 154- page book includes instructions for making rotation planning maps and discusses the transition to organic farming. Other features include:

Problems and opportunities for more than 500 crop sequences
Characteristics of more than 60 crops and 70 weeds
Crop diseases hosted by more than 80 weed species
Modes of transmission for 250 diseases found in 24 crops
Thirteen sample four- and five-year vegetable and grain crop rotations
Step-by-step procedure for determining crop rotation plans

Download Crop Rotation on Organic Farms for free at http://sare.org/publications/croprotation.htm. To order print copies ($24.00 plus $5.95 s/h) visit www.sare.org/WebStore, call 301/374-9696 or send check or money order to SARE Outreach, PO Box 753, Waldorf, Maryland 20604-0753. (Please specify title requested when ordering by mail.) Discounts are available on orders of 10 or more. Allow 3-4 weeks for delivery. Call 301/374-9696 for more information on bulk, rush or international shipments.

Published by SARE Outreach for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and features work supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA. SARE’s mission is to advance – to the whole of American agriculture – innovations that improve profitability, stewardship and quality of life by investing in groundbreaking research and education. SARE Outreach operates under cooperative agreements with the University of Maryland and the University of Vermont to develop and disseminate information about sustainable agriculture. For more information visit www.sare.org.

NRAES is the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (formerly known as the Northeast Regional Agricultural Engineering Service). NRAES’ mission is to assist faculty and staff at member universities in increasing the public availability of science- and experience-based knowledge. We accomplish this mission by publishing practical books used in educational workshops, in college courses, as management guides, and for self-directed learning. For more information, visit http://www.nraes.org/.

On April 15^th I was visiting Denver and decided to visit the Tea Party Rally at the State Capital.  I seek out Tea Parties around the country as I travel.

It was a large gathering and a big mix of people.   There was even a handful of protesters (protesting against the Tea Party) on the other side of the street, as well as an abundance of police.

I like the Tea Party moment.  I identify with them.  As an Independent I lean very conservative and libertarian in my views.  I listened to the speakers as I moved about the crowd and was having an enjoyable time, until, one of the speakers ranted about “latte-drinking, iPhone-carrying socialists”, and the crowd there erupted in supportive noise.  I stopped; I listened more; I looked around at the crowd.  I set my Starbucks latte down and reached for my iPhone.  Could it be that I was just lumped into the group of people they think are destroying our country?  Maybe even profiled?  The crowd really seamed to identify with this speaker’s comments.  I quickly felt out of place.

I was becoming more disappointed by the second.  Could I be one of ‘those’ people that they were chanting about?  Am I supporting socialism by being a consumer supporting two great and successful American companies?  Wait.  Aren’t I fueling the economy with my purchases of American goods and services?  This was troubling.  For a few minutes I was in doubt.  Then I snapped out of it, and got over it.  It’s free speech and I support that.  But, for the first time, I felt alienated at a Tea Party – and that will hurt the movement and the cause.  I support them because the idea has been to win people over to the side of liberty – not pigeon-holing them and pushing them away.

Instead, win people over by welcoming them with open discussion and education about the Constitution and Bill of Rights; about thinking and voting your ideals.  We are ALL AMERICANS.  We must unite and not divide.  United we save our great country!  The message that day was lost to some of us.  I was not alone in that crowd.

I hope my message today is a wake-up for those in the Tea Party or any party.  There are thousands of us latte-drinking, iPhone-carrying freedom lovers and I am proud to be lumped into the same group as another iPhone and Apple-fan, Rush Limbaugh.  Think before you speak!  We are all listening!  I accept you, wont you accept me?  We have more in common than you think.

- Steve Thompson

A National ID Card sets precedent to require identification for literally ANYTHING – including ANY PURCHASES you make.  In a free market with a concept called LIBERTY – such a scheme is ludicrous.

The following text is from an email that I have received from the Campaign for Liberty, which is an organization doing a fine job of tracking the progress of this movement to take away even more of our liberties.

And here is a link to a blog concerning this issue: http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=23460

FROM EMAIL:

You see, a National ID scheme — complete with biometric tracking technology — is embedded in the new “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill” being pushed by Senators Graham and Schumer, as well as other Big Government members from both parties.

And if passed, the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill” would require a new National ID card that would:

Of course, the most dangerous part of the bill is the biometric tracking technology which would allow federal bureaucrats to track our every move.

Allowing our government to have this much “prying power” in our lives will ultimately result in the TOTAL loss of freedom.

This is exactly the type of battle that often decides whether a country remains free, or continues down a slide toward tyranny.

Government goon squads with all our personal information -– information they do not need and constitutionally should not have –- is a recipe for disaster for our nation.

You see, once “well-meaning” government bureaucrats know exactly how we live our lives, it won’t be long until they try to run them.

In fact, it will only be a matter of time until they spend their workdays making sure you and I don’t go anywhere we “shouldn’t,” buy anything we “shouldn’t,” read anything we “shouldn’t,” eat anything we “shouldn’t” or smoke anything we “shouldn’t.”

You see, this fight isn’t really about immigration.

Whatever you think of that fight, it’s simply being used as cover.

If there is good news in this fight, thanks to the help of grassroots citizens like you, it’s that we’ve been able to render the Big Government politicians’ REAL ID nearly toothless in more than two dozen states.

Now, the statists are growing nervous.

They know Americans are FED UP with their mad rush to take over our health care system, expand Federal Reserve power and regulate and control every aspect of our lives.

We’re FED UP with trillion dollar deficits.

We’re SICK AND TIRED of radical schemes like Cap and Tax.

We’re done with their out of control spending on foreign affairs and nation building all over the globe.

They also see that our anger is producing results. Many of their schemes are failing.

Rallies are growing in strength. Candidates are rising up in state after state to say “Enough!”

So the statists are trying a bipartisan “backdoor” scheme to impose more control on American citizens.

They’re hoping that after months of Big Media mouthpieces decrying the “poisonous and partisan politics” in Washington, the American people will jump for joy at the sight of a Democrat from liberal New York and a Republican from conservative South Carolina “working together to solve our immigration mess.”

Well, you and I know better.

After all, liberty activists can hardly find two Senators with bigger vendettas against the liberty movement than Senator Chuck Schumer and Senator Lindsey Graham.

Senator Graham himself has very publicly denounced the limited government R3VOLUTION launched by Dr. Ron Paul.

He’s stated that we’re not welcome in HIS party.

And now, he’s proving why the one who should not be welcome in any party that values freedom is LINDSEY GRAHAM.

That’s why it’s up to you and me to FIGHT back.

Unfortunately, the only way to DEFEAT a new National ID card is to contact Americans from coast-to-coast and explain EXACTLY what’s at stake.

END EMAIL

Folks, it is up to US to make a difference and scream to high-heaven about such a system with National ID Cards, it is costly, ineffective, and an invasion of personal liberty.

On Christmas Eve of 2009 I watched as President Barack Obama spoke to the American people about the success of his Health Care Bill, as a monumental achievement that would shed upon all of us good fortune and access to medical care.  Senator Harry Reid said that the government was providing to us “security and stability”.

I don’t want security and stability “provided to me” via Uncle Sam.  I would like to do that for myself.  For years I have been a student – both in the educational system as well as in the school of life – as a consumer, worker, and citizen.  I have continually waited for “the experts” and “our representatives” to effectively lead our country.  Today, there is no doubt in my mind that our true leaders are those driven, middle-class Americans that make up the back-bone of our nation and free-market.  There is no piece of paper, no certification, no amount of money, and no political relationship that makes us, as Americans, more qualified for the job of being an informed, knowledgeable, participating citizen and consumer of this country – WE ARE THE LEADERS.

The future representatives and business-owners are people like you and me – there are no “experts” in Washington that are smarter than us.  Once we all realize that, our power as citizens will be much greater.  That is the reason for this book – to simplify, ignite, and unite all of us to stand up, speak out, and make REAL change happen.  This would not include just “hope” – I am talking about creating and taking advantage of incentives.

Taking responsibility and action are all we have to stand against a system that has become very corrupt.  Our forefathers would be unhappy with us – all of us.  Thomas Jefferson may have said it most simply, “The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”  The founders of our Constitution and the forefathers of our great country knew what kind of battle we would continuously be up against as a free nation.

I do hope that the blood I shed is with this pen and paper.  As the great American journalist and novelist, Ernest Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”  Here I sit on my modern-day typewriter, and I bleed.

We have 3 of our 4 children who are/have been recently active duty. Parents names, stepfather, Vic and mom, Linda Anstett, and father Bill LaPorte. I will write a short paragraph about each of the children.

Some people see the value in keeping their money in the local economy, and supporting local producers, in turn, has a net positive impact on rural communities.

Some people see the cost-advantages to purchasing locally.  And some people just realize that food grow locally tastes thousands of times better than that which has been shipped thousands of miles and artificially ripened (if not artificially grown from the start).

We see the value in connecting the farmer to the consumer, hence, “Farm-to-Fork”.  If you are a farmer who wants to get in our database of producers, or if you are a consumer who is interested in sourcing your food locally, please visit our website:  www.goodamericanpost.com, and click on the link to email us about Farm-to-Fork.

The over-abundance of salt in foods is a “public health crisis” according to Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut.

Yes, people eat too much salt.  The reason is because they are eating WAY TOO MANY PROCESSED FOODS.  Which is their choice.  It is people’s choice to read the label of the food they are eating, it is people’s choice to ignore it.  It is people’s choice to make decisions that affect their health.  Period.  Government intervention and regulation of how much salt goes into foods is just another dangerous addition of red tape into various sectors of businesses.  If they regulate big business – they will regulate the small ones too – and that affects small business owners like myself.

Any time there are additional regulations (and God knows that we DO NEED SOME regulations), regulations that go BEYOND protecting people’s liberty and the free market, one must really look at the consequences of such.

People make choices about what they eat – that is called freedom. If we need the government to tell food manufacturers what to cook for us, we are in big trouble.

Whole story is HERE:

By: Tisha Casida