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A Wisconsin county circuit court judge has ruled that an Amish man does have a “religious right” to be exempt from the state’s Livestock Premise Registration law. Tuesday, the judge ruled in favor of Emanuel Miller, Jr., who had been sued by the state for not following the law, which requires anyone who keeps, houses or co-mingles livestock to register their premises with the state. The Amish believe the law infringes on their religious beliefs because it could eventually result in the tagging of all animals, or the “Mark of the Beast,” mentioned in the Bible as related to Satan....

Mandatory Premises ID registration and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) are dead in Vermont! See this article for more details: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/08/18/vt-premises-id-killed/ In a nutshell, which is where these programs belongs, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (AoA) has finally heard the enormous protest against the program and said they are letting the proposal for mandatory Premises ID expire and will not share information with the feds thus killing NAIS at the same time. Secretary of Agriculture Steve Kerr told a crowd of nearly 100 at a Montpelier hearing Thursday that the agency would let its proposed rule that...

Recent letter to my state reps regarding Premises ID component of NAIS.Dear Representative, An interesting thought occurred to me on the way out to feed the pigs: Premise ID implies farm. Farm buildings are tax exempt real estate in many states. If the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (AoA) is going to be forcing the obligations of Premises ID onto everyone with any livestock, then those people with even one chicken should also accrue the benefit of being a farm - that is to say any portion of their property used for said livestock should be exempt from real estate taxes....

The Vermont Standard, a weekly newspaper, ran a very biased article about NAIS and Premise ID that looked like it had been written by the Public Relations officer from the Vermont Department of Agriculture. Here is my Letter to the Editor in reply:The Vermont Standard Post Office Box 88 Woodstock, Vermont 05091 802-457-1313vstand@sover.nethttp://www.vermontstandard.net Dear Editor, I read your article "Some Bird Raisers Cry Fowl Over Pending Regulations" and was very disappointed. Your writer, Cassie Horner, just doesn't get it. Premise ID and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) will do nothing to protect us from Avian Influenza (AI),...

euphemism Main Entry: eu·phe·mismPronunciation: 'yü-f&-"mi-z&mFunction: nounEtymology: Greek euphEmismos, from euphEmos auspicious, sounding good, from eu- + phEmE speech, from phanai to speak -- more at BAN: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted- eu·phe·mist /-mist/ noun- eu·phe·mis·tic /"yü-f&-'mis-tik/ adjective- eu·phe·mis·ti·cal·ly /-ti-k(&-)lE/ adverb -M. Webster The government works hard to put a positive spin on the bad news that what they want to do is kill all our livestock. They use words like depopulate: depopulate Main Entry: de·pop·u·latePronunciation: (")dE-'pä-py&-"lAtFunction: transitive verbEtymology: Latin depopulatus, past participle...

Just yesterday I was talking about this issue with one of my chickens. We were trying to figure out the nature of evil - where evil lies in the hearts of NAIS and men. On the one hand we have the beef exporters who push NAIS so they can reach foreign markets like Japan. This was the origin of what has become known as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) which is the USDA's proposed plan for tracing the birth to death movement of every animal in the United States. I point out that Sam Sarpy, a rancher in Montana,...

[I just received an email from NoNAIS reader Gerald in Florida who had sent the Florida Department of Agriculture a copy of the NoNAIS Handout. He sent me a copy of a reply to him from Charles Bronson who is the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and Stephen Monroe who is the Florida NAIS Program Coordinator. It is another beautiful example of our official liars at work. Their letter is in italics and my comments are in brackets. As always, feel free to redistribute this article to let people know what is going on and get out the truth. It takes...

...at least for 2006. After hearing from a large number of citizens including farmers, homesteaders, pet owners and consumers the Vermont Senate and House Agriculture Committees have told the Vermont Agency of Agriculture to not make any rules regarding the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) or Premise ID during 2006. Vermont House Bill 881 is the state budget and buried in it in Sec. 77b the legislature has instructed the Agency of Agriculture to back down. Furthermore, our representatives have told the Ag Dept. to focus on education for prevention of disease, to give full disclosure about its intentions, to...

Main Entry: vol·un·tary Pronunciation: 'väl-&n-"ter-E Function: adjective 1 : proceeding from the will or from one's own choice or consent 2 : of, relating to, subject to, or regulated by the will —vol·un·tari·ly adverb -Merriam-Webster's Dictionary Voluntary means voluntary, right? You know, you get to choose. But in the Brave New World Order where words are being redefined. A very relevant example for small farmers, homesteaders and pet livestock owners (e.g., horses) is the April 2006 USDA document which talks about the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) being voluntary (page 1, paragraph 3). This is a switch from...

Texas City Opposes NAIS Local government is getting into the act to protect themselves, their citizens and small farmers from the burdens of the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). In Texas's Harrison County wants nothing to do with NAIS in any form, mandatory or voluntary:Harrison County commissioners on Monday joined the city in opposing state implementation of the National Animal Identification System. After hearing a proposal from Marshall Mayor Ed Smith, the court passed a resolution objecting to either mandatory or voluntary identification and tracking of animals. Noting the city unanimously approved a resolution against the plan at...

The USDA is still blocking US companies from testing their own beef to prove it is BSE free. This is hurting US beef exports to Japan. The USDA claims we need the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) which they developed to help with beef exports to Japan. With one hand the USDA forces heavy handed, expensive regulations on all livestock owners in the form of NAIS. With the other hand the USDA blocks a simple, foolproof test, that they developed, which would open up foreign markets to US beef. What gives? Is this all just an excuse for the government...

The big current excuse for Premises ID and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is that wild birds were going to migrate over the poles, bring Avian Influenza (H5N1) to Alaska and then down the west coast of the United States. The scenerio presented by experts was that then it would come eastward to all the other state and infect our backyard flocks who would then kill off millions of people in the United States. There are a few problems with this. Chickens are terminal hosts to bird flu. It isn't normally transmissible to humans. Sure, if you...

[This is a beautiful example of how our government loves to spin the truth and hide their lies. My comments are in bracketed italics. Thank you to Carol for sending this to me so I would have the chance to address this issue. -WalterJ] This was sent to a horse Group I am a member of and from which I receive a news letter. This was sent in the newsletter I received this week - Hey fellow Texans - open wide - they are trying to shove the brussels sprouts down disguised as ice cream. Don't know about y'all, but...

The government is extending NAIS and similar regulations to household pets. Pets are already included in the form of horses, pot bellied pigs, llamas, fish and pet livestock. Some states are expanding the definition beyond the USDA's original list to include dogs, cats and caged pet birds. NY Bill A09775 applies to cats & dogs. PA SB865 applies to any domestic animals. MD HB709) applies to any domestic birds. Read more in this article. RI seeks to spay and neuter all cats. Los Angeles seeks to spay and neuter all dogs. You can bet good money that within a few...

Before it was terrorism. Then it was mad cow disease. Now the government is using fears of Avian Influenza (H5N1 or bird flu) to scare people into accepting reductions in their freedoms and more government control over our lives. The latest trampling of our constitutional rights is in the form of Premise ID and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Maryland has bill HB709 to register all domestic birds including pet birds. Vermont is pushing Premise ID for bird flu prevention. ABC plans to do a TV movie about Avian Flu. Everyone wants in on the fear mongering....

Today the Vermont House Agriculture Committee met with USDA represenative Dr. John Wiemers by telephone regarding the USDA's proposed draft of the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I greatly appreciate the questions raised by the Committee members to the USDA representative Dr. Wiemers this morning. They clearly pointed out the double-speak of the USDA which is being very slippery about this and other issues related to NAIS and Premise ID. The USDA is trying to reassure people out of one mouth while their other mouth, and written word, says something very different. The April 2006 USDA documents make the program...