NY: Where’s the love for farmers? The Times – Herkimer

Sheryl Taylor owns and runs Tayl-Wind Farm in Cassville with her husband. According to the Agribusiness Friendliness Index, released early last year by three Colorado State University researchers, New York is one of the least friendly states in the country – ranked 49 out of 50 when it comes to agribusiness. GATEHOUSE NEW YORK PHOTO/MARK DIORIO

LISLE — Doreen Barker never wanted to leave New York.

Originally from Dryden, a dairy town near Ithaca, Barker, 40, and Richard Barrows, 53, decided in early 2009 to bring animals back to the 350-acre, 165-year-old Barrows Farm in Lisle.

They started with chickens, adding cows — and the watering system and other infrastructure necessary to have them — in the coming years. They invested in rotational grazing, raised calves for meat to be sold locally and dreamed of soon having a value-added dairy operation.

Then they realized they simply couldn’t afford to do so.

Barrows and Barker likely aren’t the only farmers to come to that conclusion. According to the Agribusiness Friendliness Index, released early last year by three Colorado State University researchers, New York is one of the least friendly states in the country — ranked 49 out of 50 — when it comes to agribusiness.

“It’s most of the measures dealing with government that really seem to knock New York down,” said researcher Gregory Perry, who also is the head of the university’s Agricultural and Resource Economics department.

Perry said New York is 41st in property taxes, 46th in infrastructure and dead last when it comes to ease of filing a lawsuit — in other words, it’s easy for neighbors to take farms to court over nuisance smells and the like, and it’s hard for farms to win.

Joe Morrissey, public information officer for the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, doesn’t agree.

“We couldn’t disagree more with this report’s findings about New York, which we believe has a thriving agricultural sector thanks in great part to a strong partnership between state government and industry,” he said in an email. “In fact, New York farmers set a record in 2013 with $5.68 billion in cash receipts, which was more than $1 billion (more) than just three years earlier. New York is also a national leader in dairy, maple syrup and apple production, and we rank in the top 10 nationally in a number of fruit and vegetable categories.”

Morrissey said over the past four years, the state has set forth policies, passed laws and initiated marketing programs that have led to an all-time high interest in New York agriculture. They include:

• Launch of the Taste NY marketing program;

• Revamping of the farmland protection program;

•Legislation on the first-ever farm cidery and farm brewery license, as well as the Craft NY Act to further the growth of the farm-based beverage industry;

• Legislation to cap agricultural land assessments at 2 percent per year, ensuring a predictable tax climate for farmers; and…

go here ->Where’s the love for farmers?  The Times – Herkimer, NY.

BATFE attempts to intimidate patriot blog-o-sphere by attacking the Charles Carroll Society over coverage | CCS

“I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable.”  — Kurt Hoffman, in his Armed & Safe blog

Out of the entire Internet, the Charles Carroll Society and The Federalist Papers are singled out by the BATFE and US Attorney for their coverage of the immoral and unconstitutional raids conducted by the BATFE against Ares Armor.  Why do you think the BATFE and the Obama administration has personally attacked this blog?

In one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, the BATFE, one of the most lawless agencies we have has targeted this small community here on the Charles Carroll Society (CCS). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), specifically the United States Attorney listed the Charles Carrol Society as the example for their reason not to provide the names of the federal agents who lied to support the novel decision (that means B.S. for the rest of us) to say that an 80% lower is a firearm.  Why didn’t they target the Drudge Report? Why not Alex Jones Info War?  Those blogs covered the unconstitutional seizure of customer records from Ares Armor.   Because those blogs have lawyers and they have very loud voices.  Why not Cam at NRA News?  They wouldn’t dare.  They attack the smallest blogs.  Please forward this to the largest voices in the patriot blog-o-sphere and ask them to cover it. 

Dropbox Reports 80 Percent of Subpoenas Contain Gag Request | Threatpost

Dropbox Reports 80 Percent of Subpoenas Contain Gag Request | Threatpost | The first stop for security news.

NRA joins lawsuit challenging New York’s gun control law | Fox

The National Rifle Association on Thursday joined the the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, other sportsmen’s groups, firearms businesses and individual gun owners in a lawsuit challenging the state’s strict new gun control law.

The federal suit, filed in Buffalo, said the law violates the constitutional rights of “law-abiding citizens to keep commonly possessed firearms in the home for defense of self and family and for other lawful purposes….”  via Fox News

Court to consider whether speedy approval of NY gun controls violated constitution | Fox

ALBANY, N.Y. – A New York state judge agreed Friday to consider whether the state’s tough new gun restrictions were rushed into law in violation of the state constitution. State Supreme Court Justice Gerald Connolly signed an order granting the request for a hearing by plaintiffs who are challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to waive the three-day review usually required before votes on bills, according to LoHud.com.

The plaintiffs argue the law violates the guarantees of free speech, property ownership and the right to petition the government guaranteed under the state and federal constitutions.

Plaintiff Robert Schulz called Cuomo a “king” for pushing through the nation’s toughest gun law by suspending the three-day vetting period by submitting a “message of necessity” on the law, which allows the constitutional waiting period to be suspended.

via Court to consider whether speedy approval of NY gun controls violated constitution | Fox News.

US Totalitarianism Loses Major Battle As Judge Permanently Blocks NDAA’s Military Detention Provision | ZeroHedge

Back in January, Pulitzer winning journalist Chris Hedges sued President Obama and the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act, specifically challenging the legality of the Authorization for Use of Military Force or, the provision that authorizes military detention for people deemed to have “substantially supported” al Qaeda, the Taliban or “associated forces.” Hedges called the president’s action allowing indefinite detention, which was signed into law with little opposition from either party “unforgivable, unconstitutional and exceedingly dangerous.” He attacked point blank the civil rights farce that is the never-ending “war on terror” conducted by both parties, targeting whom exactly is unclear, but certainly attaining ever more intense retaliation from foreigners such as the furious attacks against the US consulates in Egypt and Libya. 

NSA Whistleblowers Back EFF’s Lawsuit Over Government’s Massive Spying Program | RightSideNews

EFF Asks Court to Reject Stale State Secret Arguments So Case Can Proceed.

San Francisco – Three whistleblowers – all former employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) – have come forward to give evidence in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF’s) lawsuit against the government’s illegal mass surveillance program, Jewel v. NSA.

 In a motion filed today, the three former intelligence analysts confirm that the NSA has, or is in the process of obtaining, the capability to seize and store most electronic communications passing through its U.S. intercept centers, such as the “secret room” at the AT&T facility in San Francisco first disclosed by retired AT&T technician Mark Klein in early 2006.

“For years, government lawyers have been arguing that our case is too secret for the courts to consider, despite the mounting confirmation of widespread mass illegal surveillance of ordinary people,” said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn.

NH gunowner, not shooter, may be liable | Concord Monitor

In a case attorneys say has no precedent in New Hampshire, a federal appeals court is weighing whether the owner of a handgun used to kill three people at a Conway military surplus shop in July 2007 could be held liable for their murders.

Lawrence Secord didn’t do enough to secure the .22-caliber handgun he kept at his camp in Wentworth Location, enabling his grandson, Michael Woodbury, to steal it and open fire in the Army Barracks store several days later, according to a lawsuit brought by the mother of one of the victims.

A federal judge decided Secord didn’t have a duty to store his gun in a different manner, citing the circumstances of the case – that Woodbury had broken into Secord’s cabin – and a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling that individuals ordinarily can’t be held liable for crimes committed by others.

The FDA Says You Have No Right to Freedom of Food | Gaia Health

I am posting this as an example of the myriad and oblique ways that threats to your freedoms and liberties are being eroded or trending in that direction.  You may or may not have followed the controversy regarding the sale and purchase of unpasteurized milk over the past year, I have only vaguely so.  Yet the trend and tone on the post referenced below is familiar and disturbing.  It relates to a lawsuit reportedly filed against FDA by a 501(c)(4) non-profit calling themselvesFarm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (FTCLDF.) Original Heidi Stevenson is here, excerpts follow.