• All of my material here on the NoNAIS.

  org web site may be used for any purpose to fight against NAIS. This includes use on other blogs, web sites, newspaper articles, magazines, radio, television, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc. I appreciate but do not require a link, credit or by line.

  If you're doing something where you can provide a link back or show the http://NoNAIS.org web address that is wonderful.
  
  On the other hand if you are an evil person or a pro-NAIS entity and you use my materials for your profit or to promote NAIS I'll sue your pants off for copyright violation and my 250 lb Montedale Ram will butt your sorry ass to hell and back.

  No kidding.
  
  There is a that can be used as well. If you're going to a rally and need signs made up, give me the size, text you want and any other specs and I may be able to help.

  I hear Kinkos and Staples both will print signs from downloaded artwork. I can usually supply what ever you need in what ever file format the printer needs.

• I try very hard to have 100% accurate information on my web site.

  If you ever find any errors, even typos, please me so I can fix them. Let me know the URL (page address) as well as the edit. Likewise, let me know if you think something should be added to the site.

  All suggestions and tips are appreciated. Please be specific about errors, cryptic messages don't help.

• I am not looking for donations.

  My expenses for fighting NAIS so far are fairly limited. I would rather you spent money spreading the word about NAIS such as printing up copies of the and and placing in your local papers. If you feel compelled to send money as some people have realize I am not a 501c3 non-profit agency, thus any money you send will be considered a gift so it will not be tax deductible or anything like that.

  Gifts of over $1,000,000 should be made in small denominations because our local store doesn't like changing large bills. This is not to diss those who have sent money - I appreciate it and have spent it on supplies ads to fight NAIS. I'm just not really setup to handle donations and the big thing we need to do is get more people aware of this horrible USDA proposed regulation.

  Spread the word - If you tell ten people and they each tell ten people...

Dear Senator Leahy,
It is good to see that you are starting to realize that there are problems with the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) but I do not think you understand the true burden that NAIS will put on small farmers and folks raising their own food. I also do not think you realize how outraged people are about NAIS invading their privacy and trampling on their Constitutional rights. There is no need for the Premise ID, Animal ID or tracking of these people.

On top of all that, NAIS will not be an effective system of disease control. Disease prevention could be accomplished with much simpler and less intrusive methods such as educating people in proper bio-security and health practices. We do not need Big Brother micromanaging our lives.

On a related note, right now you are on my Naughty list in the right hand sidebar of my web site http://NoNAIS.org because of your support for NAIS and for your part in creating this monstrosity. While I like that you are modifying your stance about NAIS I am still not at all pleased with your representation of Vermonters in Washington.

You supporting the big moneyed interests at the loss to common Vermonters. We voted for you, not the big lobbyists.
I speak to you as someone who has supported you in the past, a Vermonter and small farmer.

We do not need NAIS in the slightest. Our pastured pork customers know exactly where their food comes from - it was bred, born and raised on our farm. Customers can come by and see their food in our fields any day of the week.

If someone wants to know where their food comes from, they should Buy Local which supports their local farmers, preserves open spaces and puts money into their local economy rather than the pockets of big Agri-Biz in distant corporate offices. If they want trace-back then they should pay a premium in a voluntary, market driven system so that the farmers get paid something extra for providing the service which will cost them time and money.
Our secondary sales are piglets, mostly to the many hundreds of rural folk who want to raise a summer pig for themselves, family and friends in order to put meat on the table.

They do not need any government bureaucracy to tell them where the pig came from. Those people came to our farm, picked up the piglet and took it home to raise. They know exactly where their pig came from, they know what they fed it and how it was cared for to produce quality home-grown pork.

Homesteaders don t need the government intrusion in raising healthy food. NAIS will burden them with about $500 a year in added expense with no benefit. This amounts to hidden tax on food they have raised themselves.

Not only is that unfair, since food is not normally taxed, but you are putting this burden on poorer, rural folk who can least afford to pay out more money each year from their meager incomes.
Perhaps NAIS might be a good idea for the large factory farms and feed lots selling into the anonymous commercial food stream of big stores. Maybe NAIS will help the big beef exporters sell to foreign markets, like Japan, which is the original reason for NAIS.

It will certainly make the RFID industry rich with selling 12,000,000,000 mandatory tags a year at $3 a pop. NAIS will put money into the states coffers as a hidden tax at 2,000,000 farm premises at $10 each for Premise ID - taxing us on something we have always done with no benefit. What NAIS will not do is help small farms, the rural poor or consumers who will ultimately pay the price through less choice and higher prices as the national food supply is consolidated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporations.

NAIS only benefits the rich.
NAIS is not necessary or beneficial to small family farms, homesteaders or pet livestock owners. NAIS will cost us time and money in the form of increased taxes, fees, fines, tags, equipment and wasted time filling out more government forms.

Imagine doing your own taxes every week of the year. NAIS is so complex that a great many people will get it wrong and be assessed enormous, onerous fines for simple mistakes making criminals out of honest people.
NAIS started out as a way of opening foreign markets for the few big beef exporters.

That justification is still the real reason for NAIS but it is not a politically correct reason so the USDA had to come up with some other excuse. Disease prevention is the new justification for NAIS. At first they said BSE claim that NAIS is not necessary for BSE prevention (Testimony by Steve Kerr, VT Ag Comm.

) which is simply caused by feeding cows to cows - imagine that! Now they are claiming we need NAIS to prevent Avian Influenza. NAIS won t prevent Avian Flu.

Migratory wild birds and human travelers are the vectors for avian flu. NAIS will do nothing for either of those and knowing where all the domestic birds are located will also do nothing good as they are merely terminal hosts.
Moreover, NAIS does not track domestic pet cats, who are a host of Bird Flu and NAIS and Premise ID does nothing about the exotic bird trade and pet stores [per VT Ag Com Kerr 3/22/06 hearing] which is a much more likely source of problems than bio-diverse heritage breeds of backyard poultry.

Why doesn t the USDA and Vermont Agriculture Department want to include these species? Because the American people would virtually all be directly affected. If everyone were the targeted they would strongly oppose NAIS.

Instead the USDA is picking on a small minority group who lacks powerful lobbyists to protect them - the last remaining family farmers. NAIS is not about disease, it is about profits and power for a select few rich and powerful corporations.
If the government really wants to do something about Avian Flu then they should be educating the public on how to take care of themselves, how to always keep on hand a three month supply of food, how to do basic first aid, how to survive, not just a pandemic, but all sorts of disasters from earth quakes to hurricanes to floods and more.

After all, it has been repeatedly proven that we can not depend on the government for help in times of crisis. If you want to help people, teach them to safely raise their own food so that more people might actually have a chance of surviving troubled times. But no, that is not something we ll see the government do because people living independently does not sell RFID tags, factory farmed chicken nuggets, feedlot stuffed beef, drive the economy or generate more taxes and fees for the state federal coffers.

Our government has fallen into a rut of co-dependence that is producing a weaker and weaker country. Lets see you get a spine and stand up fight for a stronger, more independent America.
Lastly, the USDA s proposed NAIS is unconstitutional.

Specifically it violates the 1st, 4th, 5th, 14th and possibly the 13th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The foundation of our country, our Bill of Rights, is already under gross assaults from many sides. We do not need more tyrannical Nanny State regulations passed down from the USDA that will give them invasive powers to violate our privacy, circumvent due process of law and do warrant-less searches.

As ex-Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O Connor recently observed, our country is slipping towards dictatorship. The government should not be in the fascist business of micromanaging Americans lives - we are supposed to be the land of the free. You are our representative in the Senate for Vermont and I expect you to stand up for the common folks rights, to protect our independence from overreaching government bureaucracy and big corporate greed.

If we are to have trace-back, a stated purpose of NAIS, then it should be a completely voluntary system that is totally market driven. Frankly, there is not even a need for the USDA, or the government in any form, to be involved. If buyers like McDonald s want it, let them pay farmers something extra to provide that service.

With NAIS being mandatory there will be no premium for the added cost of providing trace-back. Small farmers will be deprived of income by a mandatory program that would make them work harder to earn the same wage. NAIS hurts farmers coming and going.

Keeping NAIS 100% voluntary will benefit farmers, homesteaders, rural folk and ultimately consumers. It will leave the burden off of those of use who do not need it and should not have to bear this cost just for the benefit of a few rich corporations.
Thank you,
Dear Mr.

Jeffries:
Thank you for contacting me about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I appreciate hearing from you.
Since 1998, I have been proud to work with the Holstein Association in Brattleboro to create an animal identification pilot program.

The Holstein Association s program, partially funded with assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is a precursor to the NAIS that electronically identifies individual animals and tracks their movements from birth to slaughter within 48 hours. To date, the Holstein Association s pilot program has proven its electronic tracking capabilities with over a million bovines enrolled from over 7,000 farms in 42 states.
While the USDA has laid the groundwork of a national system through the work of the National Institute for Animal Agriculture and through their work with the Holstein Association, they have delayed full implementation of individual animal identification until this year.

I am concerned with the USDA s lack of a plan to fund the program. Unfortunately, the USDA does not intend to assist producers with the costs of a national identification program nor has USDA proposed any assistance for meat processors. I believe this cost will be a burden on many small farmers and should be funded in part through the USDA budget.

Furthermore, the USDA has issued contradictory statements regarding their intention to make this system mandatory or voluntary.
As a member of the Agriculture Committee, I will continue to urge the USDA to implement this plan keeping in mind its purpose to project animal health and avoid the spread of animal disease. Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue.

When they find out about the National Animal Identification System ( ) some people say to me, I just won t register. Yes, you might get away with that but I would not suggest taking that as a policy. The reason is quite simple.

The fines can easily be or even more per incident per day. Each unregistered animal you have could count as a separate incident. How many chickens do you have?

10? Well, that comes to $10,000 per day in fines. Lets say they wait and enforce the rule on you after three months.

That is 93 x $10,000 = $930,000 in fines for non-compliance. They will take your home, your land, your livestock, your vehicles, your savings, everything. Without a home you won t have a farm or a place to come home to after work.

You probably won t have a job - few homeless people can keep their jobs. You would be destitute. Ask yourself, Do you really want to start over from scratch at this point in your life?

Simply thinking, I won t register is not good enough. You must fight NAIS now while you still have the chance to have an effect. Leave comments with the .

Write , the USDA Animal ID Coordinator. Write your state department of agriculture. Write your at both the state and federal levels in the and .

Write your governor. Write the or call him at 1-800-696-6322 where you can leave comments with a live operator. Write letters to the editor to your your local .

Put a on your car. Hang up . Pass around .

Spread the word. The more people who know about the harmful effects of NAIS the more people who will get upset and do something about it. Don t be lazy and think you can just get away without registering.

Sticking your head in the sand won t make the NAISties go away. An happened on the way to the meat market Our faithful, trusty USDA is for Mad Cow Disease (BSE). But wait, isn t the USDA is using fears of BSE as a justification for NAIS?

Is this why they are stopping from testing to prove their beef is BSE free?
What a strange government we have. They are creating problems for small farmers with NAIS and refusing to let vendors test to prove the justification don t exist in order to justify creating unnecessary mandatroy expensive, complex bureaucratic programs like the National Animal Identification System ( ).

Turns out the USDA profits from this whole mess on both ends in the form of more bureaucracy, fees and fines as well as a share of the .
How do you spell Conflict of Interest? U.

S. D. A.

I knew you could do it!
Thank you listeners for dropping by! I appreciate your taking the time to learn more about how the USDA s National Animal Identification System (NAIS) would hurt small family farmers, homesteaders and pet owners.

Ultimately consumers will pay the price as choice becomes limited and prices go up when control of our national food supply is consolidated into the hands of fewer and fewer large corporate factory farms.
The government s most powerful tool in this battle for our rights is secrecy and apathy. Lets change that and take back our great country!

Many people are being voluntarily signed up so watch out for suspicious questionnaires in the mail or by phone. In most states, you are not required at this time to sign up for Animal ID or Premise ID, two of the components of NAIS. Know your rights.

Feel free to use the sample letters below which you can copy to your email program or word processor, print, sign and send. For a more powerful message, modify the letter to fit your views or, best of all, write your own letters for the greatest impact.
I am very opposed to the National Animal ID System.

It is an invasion of our privacy and our rights. The real reason for the system is to give profits to the big meat exporters. Disease prevention can be better achieved through simple bio-security procedures without having to trample all over the Constitution.

Please stop the USDA and states from implementing Premise ID, Animal ID and Animal Tracking. NAIS should be kept 100% voluntary. At the very least, we need an exemption for small farmers, homesteaders and pet livestock owners.

Please go to http://NoNAIS.org to learn more about this unreasonable regulation.
I am concerned that USDA s National Animal Identification System (NAIS) is going to destroy the wonderful Buy Local movement that has just been getting its feet off the ground.

The burden of NAIS is going to be overwhelming for small farmers who sell directly to customers.
There is no need for tracking their animals nor is there any need to track the animals of pet owners (horses, etc) or homesteaders who are raising their own food. There should be exemptions for these groups.

NAIS might be a good idea for those big, horrible factory farms and for big farms that sell into the commercial food distribution system, but it is a bad idea for local farmers.
Should I sign electronic petitions? Yes, but I do not have a lot of faith that they will be much good.

I don t think that the government listens to electronic petitions or puts much weight in them. Still, go ahead and do it because it is easy to do and maybe something good will come of it. However, do not just do that.

Also take other actions as outlined above.
Can I send money to NoNAIS.org?

No, I am not accepting donations at this time. I have some ideas for printing up masses of bumper stickers and decals to get the word out, but that project is in the future. Your voice and actions are what count most.

Protecting our freedoms is a long haul project so be prepared to write letters every month to keep the ball rolling. If you really want to spend money, buy in newspapers, on Google and other places that will help spread the word. Some people are already doing this with great results.

Talk about NAIS. Get other people interested. Spread the word.

The government has conspired with big business to keep this quiet too long. We must speak up and be heard. What we need is the power of the voice of the people.

The force of people speaking up and rejecting this absurd usurpation of our rights, our freedoms. Take a stand now while you still can. Lets once again make this be America, the Land of the Free and the Brave!