Letters to the Editor
CHEMTRIALS IN OHIO?
Dear Editor EcoWatch Journal,
I wanted to bring the issue of "chemtrials" to your attention and in hopes you may be able to pass the information on to any person or group that may need to be aware of these activities and how it is related to your journal's objectives.
Please take the time to review the information on the video links I provide in this letter and look at the sky so that you may verify for yourself that these events are happening. Here in Wayne and Medina Counties, a number of us have seen the trails very often, on the order of a couple of times a week. It appears that the mainstream media will not touch this topic other than some minor comments. Their casual handling of the issue does not mean that it is not true and that it is not a major concern for the long-term health of the population and environment.
The link below is part one of a four-part interview with Rosalind Peterson on the Alex Jones show. Please watch this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nmHpZkGFH8.
The link below is part one of 10 of a documentary by Clifford Carnicom. Click on the "more info" field to get full details for the entire set of videos. This series may seem long, but it is well done and structured to walk you through the information in a simple and complete manner. Please listen to all videos in this set, because it's structured to give you a complete time phased picture of the issue. View this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx4xm8VCp9U
There are a large number of videos on line from all over the world. They show additional information in support of the evidence in the videos above.
Thank you for taking some time to review the videos and please forward them to anyone that you feel should be aware of these events and activities.
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
I feel compelled to write regarding comments made about the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) in the October/November issue of EcoWatch Journal. It is time to set the record straight. An (EcoWatch) board member wrote a letter to the editor that the HSUS "is a political action group that pretends to be associated with your local humane society, even though it is not. This disingenuous approach, plus the fact that they have possibly ruined certain sectors of California's farm industry, leading to less food being produced locally, shows that they do not have the best interests of Ohio's farms in mind."
Let's take a look at one example of something HSUS has done to see if those claims could have any merit—the scandal involving the Hallmark Meat Packing Co. and Westland Meat Co., Inc. In 2007 it was HSUS that single-handedly investigated Hallmark/Westland Meat located in Chino, California. That investigation revealed and documented that those companies were violently forcing (e.g., ramming cows with forklifts, applying painful electric shocks, etc.) animals too sick to walk on their own ("downer animals") to walk to pass inspection and to slaughter to be processed for food. They were also the second largest supplier to the National School Lunch Program.
Downer cattle have an increased risk of contracting bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow disease"). That's why they should not enter the food supply. HSUS's investigation and documentation led to the San Bernadino County District Attorney charging five felony counts under California's anti-cruelty statutes against company employees who used those forced methods. HSUS also filed suit, and the U.S. Department of Justice joined, to recover $150 million in taxpayer money spent on the potentially tainted ground beef.
That's just one minor example of the many things HSUS has done on behalf of animal welfare, not to mention the environment and other important issues associated with their works. Their investigation that led to the county prosecutor's charges, the recall of potentially tainted meat that could have infected thousands of children in the national school lunch program, and their lawsuit to recover $150 million, is obviously not what you'd expect from a "local" humane society, but seems pretty genuine to me.
But what about affordability? Has HSUS ruined certain sectors of California's farm industry, leading to less local food production, too? Does humane care for animals increase the cost of production? While the country's egg producers were making that assertion in 2008 against the HSUS in California during the drive to pass California Proposition 2, the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Federal Trade Commission discovered that the leading opponent of Proposition 2, the egg trade group, United Egg Producers, were artificially inflating prices, eliminating competition and defrauding consumers in a criminal price-fixing scheme, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This antitrust story has been reported by The Wall Street Journal, Business Week and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Those are the facts. We should be thanking the HSUS for the work they do, work that local humane societies, overwhelmed with the task of sheltering animals, ordinarily don't have the resources to do. And with regard to whether it might cost us more, as Temple Grandin, the most well-respected farm animal scientist has said "There is a point where economics alone must not be the sole justification for an animal production practice. When the egg producers asked me if I wanted cheap eggs I replied, ‘Would you want to buy a shirt if it was $5 cheaper and made by child slaves?'"