Amish Farmer's on Terror Watch List? It must be the Radioactive Pickles from Homeland Security

Headline: New rules are hurdles to Amish farmers with old ways "Products that require licensing through the state include relishes and pickled products, butter, milk, cheese and yogurt, and canned products." How ever did we consume milk, cheese and yogurt before it was approved by the FDA?

The founders of this country included farmers, much like the Amish of today. I would be hard-pressed to believe that James Madison wrote the Constitution so that one day the government would require people to ask permission before they could grow and sell food.

Scared of Amish pickles? The food approved by the FDA is often way more "toxic" than the homemade organic jams and pickles of the Amish community.

One industry pays tribute to Big Government and one group with no lobbyists merely wants to continue the agricultural practices passed down from generations prior. If grandpa didn't have to ask for permission, why do we? This is the insanity of modern-day America. We the People have forgotten our relationship to government. It is the bureaucrats that must ask permission of us, not the other way around.

Most of the questions regarding permission have already been answered in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. You don't have to ask for permission; your government does. Remember, the Bill of Rights was designed to restrict the power of government, NOT the people. For instance, "the RIGHT of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

That statement is a constraint on the feds, whom our founders knew would one day try to usurp the tools that allow a free people to remain free. Since a zebra can't change its stripes and a scorpion doesn't come without a stinger, what makes you think that government is your benevolent protector just because it is draped in the U.S. flag?

Twenty-first century Americans would do well to remember about which the founders of our country warned us -- it is our government that is the greatest threat to our liberty. Obama and McCain are not allowed to let such simple and obvious truth leave their lips. Change? Please remove the cotton from the pill bottles that were given to you by Big PHARMA. John-boy and Barack will bring you plenty of the same. How long before they put all Amish farmers on the Terror Watch List?

Homeland Security will probably claim that they are pickling in radioactive water. Embrace freedom. If you want good quality food that has been made the same way for generations, then hug an Amish farmer and thank them before it's too late. Where do I apply for a license to hug? You know it's only a matter of time...

Raw Milk Renegade from Mennonite Moo-Cows

Headline: The Criminalization of Raw Milk -- A Mennonite Farmer is Hauled Away "...he is not going to stop [selling raw milk] til he is ready to stop. He is the equivalent of that little black lady in Alabama who wouldn't go to the back of the bus. He is doing the same thing, he won't go to the back of bus." I wonder what Rosa Parks would think of the government denying a constitutionally proficient law-abiding citizen the right to enter into contracts with his neighbors and friends?

One of the key rights supposed to be protected by our government is the RIGHT to contract. Or is that now lost in a haze of collectivist protectionism coming from the elitists in BIG GOVERNMENT? Yes, that includes you Hillary Clinton. The brave Mr. Nolt is a threat to no one (except Monsanto and Big Government) and he understands what is at stake in his stance against government encroachment on the freedom to enter into private agreements.

"Mr. Nolt contends that the regulations have not been approved by the legislature and shouldn't apply to him because he is selling directly to consumers, via private contracts that are outside the purview of the state, making a privilege out of a right he believes he has - the right to private contracts."

It is rare to find many Americans which truly understand the difference between a right and a privilege, but I am privileged to know that the number of freedom-lovers is growing.

Often, we do not appreciate something until we have lost it. I feel that this is what is happening as more of our brothers and sisters awaken to an American terrain so overburdened with government regulation that the oxygen necessary for breathing may be available shortly only if you have a permit. Is it really "kooky" to desire freedom over false security? If it is, then consider me major-league-kooky and proud of it. I do not need nor desire a bureaucratic oligarchy on any level keeping me from raw milk just to fulfill their desire for raw power over the populace.

In this scenario, what is the difference between the U.S.A. and the old U.S.S.R.? At least in the Soviet Union, the people KNEW they were not free. You may claim you love liberty, but if you ain't got "raw" milk, it may be because you are not free to buy and sell raw milk without government permission. Then, ipso facto, you are not free.

I wonder if the Iraqis are free to have raw milk without first acquiring permission from government officials? If so, then George Bush should be applauded for making the world safe for raw milk, except for those left in the "homeland" under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture.

Is the Department of Agriculture now a subsidiary of the Department of Homeland Security? Why not go all the way and make the Constitution a sub-department therein as well? Or did they already do that with the passage of the misnamed Patriot Act? Got freedom?

I'd rather have a glass of nice cold raw milk AND freedom.