considering most law enforcement today has no idea how to do anything productive, I imagine they thought the tubing and supplies were to make bombs or drugs…UN Fucking believable!

I talked to the legal team at NORML the next day. He told me the very same thing. They could have said we think this money is from drug sales and we are taking all of it. The baby sitter cop tried to get us to say we had drugs for personal use on board. We were appalled (sort of)! My boyfriend told him, “Excuse me, we are professional people.” We knew we were profiled the second the lights came on.

They have been labeled terrorists. I was watching a small clip in friend’s house of FOX News before the May 1 protests. The commentator stated these demonstrators are un-American, un-patriotic and nothing short of domestic terrorists.

The sad thing is this stuff is happening all over America, Pre-emptive Policing… This last January, my boyfriend and I were traveling through Louisiana in our RV. We were pulled over on I-10, just outside Lake Charles at 10:00 a.m. The officer motioned for my partner to come out of the Van. He did and a half an hour later the officer came to the door and interrogated me as to where we came from, where we were going, where we had been, where we work…next thing I knew, Dave was frisked and I was asked to exit the rv so it could be searched. We were kept on the side of the road for 2 hours being interrogated and searched…No warrant and no probable cause. We were told if we didn’t let them search, they would have the RV towed, so we let them search…I know very stupid. In the end, we didn’t even get a warning for going over the white line in 40 mph winds, which is why he said he stopped us in the first place…I guess our crime was driving across America and not going to work??? Maybe it was because we just aren’t old enough to be in an RV??? I don’t think I will ever go back to Louisiana as the whole thing is totally out of control. Obviously, this is not the same America our parents grew up in.

If this is surprising to some, they must have their head in the sand.

I am finally home after traveling the country for the last 6 months and have seen true depression across our country. Places that used to be filled with factories that employed hundreds and sometimes thousands were sitting empty and crumbling, whole cities were deserted. The churches seem to be doing fine, especially the mega-churches down south. One would think that one’s community would be reflective of the size of their church…That was not the case either as poverty,homelessness and unemployment were rampant through out the South.
Most often it seemed that hope was all people were living on and they Hoped that someone would be wealthy or humanitarian enough to buy that desolate factory or store front and re-open it. They hope that Washington or their state governments will do the right thing and more often than not, many have left blowing in the wind and desperate for help. People cannot eat or be clothed by hope and prayers.

How can regular Americans even think of economic optimism when they are watching their government take away: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Unemployment benefits (for those who qualify),and ship our jobs out of the country. I talked to people who used to be moderately wealthy and lost everything…businesses, savings, house, car and family because of the unbridled greed from Washington to Wall Street.

The whole Gulf of Mexico is shut down thanks to BP, and who is being held responsible? Many communities, if they are lucky to have a grocery store, still have to put up with a store that provides little whole nutrition. I have seen stores where the produce should be composted and the meat shouldn’t even be allowed to be sold. Unfortunately, many people do not know how to do anything except what they are told to do…they don’t know how to grow food or even build the most simple of dwellings. Having an education does not make one immune to these travesties. I’m sure Washington and Wall Street want it that way.

Economic recovery could happen much quicker if we as Americans would stand together in solidarity for the good of America and clean up our own back yard first. Not to gain economic compensation, but because this is our home and it is the right thing to do. It has become quite obvious to me that continuing to engage in the “us” vs. “them” (i.e. Republican/Democrat, straight/LBGT&Q, Right/left, 1%/99%) dialog is getting us nowhere but further and more deeply divided.

Our country is turning into a police state and many are just standing around letting it happen out of fear. They are afraid if they speak up, they will lose the rest of what little most still have.

I have already seen it and Yes, Food, Inc. is a great documentary. I am originally from the Great Plains and at one time many years ago hauled meat out of the slop and chop shops in Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa. I was disgusted at the horrific conditions the animals had to endure. I thanked God every day that I got to eat wild game from the plains and mountains of Montana. Thanks for the reply.

“And then of course, it is more expensive, which leaves out the ability of a significant portion of the population to be able to buy “good” food.”

Yes, there is the issue of cost, but taking into account you can either pay at the front end (purchasing organic) or you can pay at the back end (in the form of hospital and doctor bills), personally, I would rather pay up front and avoid the screwed up medical system which seems to be owned by the pharmaceutical companies whose sole mission is to get you hooked on one of their prescriptions. I am on a fixed income and choose to spend my money not on fast food, convenience food or processed food, but on whole, organic, non-GMO food. There are studies out there that shows in a side by side comparison, organically grown food has sometimes twice the nutritional content of it’s non-organic counterpart.

“Forks Over Knives” is a good documentary that illustrates why it is important to know where your food comes from, how it was grown and what is in it. Again, we can pay on the front end or we can pay on the back end.

You are right that where you live has a lot to do with how much you know about where your food comes from and the conditions in which it was grown. I am from Vermont and am lucky enough to be the one growing most of my own food. What I can’t grow myself, I can get from certified organic farms within 10 minutes of our home. I understand many people live in what is referred to as “food deserts” in that they don’t even have a suitable grocery in their neighborhoods. In a country as wealthy as ours, this is deplorable and unacceptable.

Isn’t letting poultry producers police their own process kind of like letting the fox guard the hen house?