John Adams sums it up nicely:

“If worthless men are at the head of affairs, it is because worthless men are at the tail and the middle.”

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Every American citizen should read this book.

Wow. What an incredible, inspiring story.

In her closing paragraph of her acknowledgements, author Laura Hillenbrand writes,

“I come away from this book with the deepest appreciation for what these men endured, and what they sacrificed, for the good of humanity.”

Yes, as do I, Laura. And I thank you for bringing this story to life.

This book is a searing, unforgettable reminder that our freedom, comfort, security, and prosperity are a sacred trust, given to us by the incomprehensible suffering of brave men and women who have gone before us, never to be taken for granted.

View all my reviews

My friends, William and Vernie DeMille, owners of C’est Naturelle Farms in Oregon City, Oregon, were just featured on CBS News.

(William is Oliver DeMille’s brother.)

The story asks, “Should government subsidize crops used in junk food?”

Of course, you know my answer.

Check out the video:

*If you’re reading this in an email or RSS reader, you may need to watch the video on my blog.

Anyone who claims that your one vote really makes a difference in national elections is delusional.

They’ll be quick to point out the handful of close elections in history, such as the 2004 Florida contest between Bush and Kerry.

But that brings me to my point: Would our nation really be that different today had Kerry won instead of Bush?

Would Kerry have eroded our freedoms and spent our money more than Bush?

I highly doubt it — at least not in any substantive way.

Status-quo Republicans and Democrats are virtually indistinguishable.

As political economist Gunnar Myrdal stated,

“Political parties . . . have to take up a fighting position at least at election times when they have to stimulate the lazy and undecided voters to vote, and to vote for them. All politicians . . . have, however, an interest in preserving favorable conditions for the normal day-to-day cooperation and collective bargaining among them all.”

He added that,

“We tend to arrive at a situation where there is a large measure of agreement among all the political parties. They sometimes even compete in propagating new and constantly more sweeping redistributional reforms as levels of income rise.

“In any case, we have seen very few examples, if any, where the coming into power of a more conservative political party has meant a substantial retraction of reforms previously carried through by a party which was further left.”

As long as you vote for status-quo candidates, your vote doesn’t matter. Regardless of party, you’re still going to get the same things: unsustainable debt, overblown spending, more inept bureaucracy, more global intervention, less adherence to the Constitution.

The current debate among the GOP is which candidate has the best chance of beating Obama.

I’ve heard countless people say that any of the current GOP candidates would be better than Obama.

Really? Based on what version of history and for what reasons?

Both sides of the aisle gave us the TARP bailouts. Both sides passed the Patriot Act. Both sides vote for entitlements. Both sides give lip service to cutting spending, while our budget and debt continue to balloon.

Republicans: If you vote on the basis of who is most likely to beat Obama, you’ve already lost the battle and your vote is pointless.

This is yet another example of freedom-lovers fighting election-cycle battles, rather than a 100-year war.

To restore our freedoms, we must break free from our current partisan gridlock, where our freedoms are eroded year after year regardless of which party is in power.

In short, we need more Independents and less party loyalists.

Freedom-loving Republicans must stop focusing solely on trying to beat Obama, and instead must shift their efforts to winning a 100-year war for freedom.

Furthermore, all citizens must realize the limitations of elections and put their right to vote in context.

Yes, the right to vote is important. But it’s mostly symbolic of deeper issues.

Freedom isn’t preserved by citizens who do little to preserve it outside of elections, then show up angry at polls.

It’s preserved by citizens who build families and small businesses. Who educate themselves and their children about freedom and the Constitution. Who deeply understand the issues rather than accepting the talking points and 30-second media sound bites from status-quo politicians.

All the populist rantings about beating Obama and the dangers of “splitting the vote” are deceptive distractions blinding voters from the real points:

1. Vote status quo and you’re going to get status quo — regardless of party.
2. The impact of your vote is limited and must be put in context. Far more important than voting is how you educate yourself, raise your family, become a producer, and serve your community.

On October 3, 1789, President George Washington signed the following decree titled “General Thanksgiving.”

While there were Thanksgiving observances in America both before and after Washington’s proclamation, this represents the first to be so designated by the new national government.

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION

“WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me ‘to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

“NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;– for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;– for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;– and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

“And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;– to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

“GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

*Thanks to Shanon Brooks for bringing this to my attention.

Defending compensation he received from Freddie Mac, Newt Gingrich said today,

“It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington. We just tried four years of amateur ignorance and it didn’t work very well. So, having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing.”

I’m not nearly concerned about the Freddie Mac compensation as I am with Newt’s attitude that we need a Washington political expert running the White House.

This is precisely the attitude that has robbed our freedoms over the past century — that centralized planners and experts out of touch with real Americans ought to be in charge, and empowered to get ever deeper into our lives.

Obama’s failures haven’t resulted from his inexperience with Washington, but rather from his attitude that America can be managed from Washington — and Newt Gingrich obviously shares this attitude.

We don’t need someone with the ambition, experience, and skill to navigate Beltway politics and finesse new bills through the bureaucratic system.

Rather, we need someone who understands what it’s like to run a small business in small-town American while daily running the gauntlet of federal regulations.

We need someone who understands how excruciating it is to operate a small, local, organic farm while competing against industrial farms who receive government subsidies.

We need someone who understands how to touch the heart and impact the mind of a child on a personal level, not someone who thinks they know how to administer public education from a remote office 3,000 miles away.

We need someone who understands that the real economy-saving innovations will come from entrepreneurs, not technocrats.

We need someone who understands how to raise a family, not someone who knows how to raise campaign funding.

We need someone experienced with voluntary, heartfelt charity on the ground, not someone experienced in spending other people’s money from high-rise buildings and cubicles.

We need someone who understands how to balance a household checkbook, not someone who understands how to balance macro liquidity and inflation.

Washington politicos may think they’re the head of America and that they’re in charge.

But the heart of America carries the real power and the true solutions: regular citizens going to work, paying bills, raising families, building businesses, educating children.

Washington is getting increasingly out of touch, incompetent, and domineering.

Washington insiders may be able to work the system, but rarely see the system for what it is.

So, Mr. Gingrich, as proud as you are of knowing Washington, I’m looking for someone who knows America.

Why can’t the freedom movement seem to get any traction?

Why have we lost battle after battle for at least the past century?

It’s because we tend to make the good the enemy of the perfect, the pragmatic the enemy of the ideal.

To be clear, it’s because the most passionate among us have adopted a rigid, dogmatic, uncompromising “either-or” stance in the fight.

Rather than winning hearts and minds in the trenches inch-by-inch, we drop rhetorical nuclear bombs and make enemies of potential supporters.

There’s one critical distinction that explains this tendency and, if understood, can overcome it and make all the difference to our success:

Do we view the fight for freedom as an election-cycle battle, or as a 100-year war?

These vastly different mindsets generate completely different strategies and tactics and produce completely different results.

If we view the fight as an election-cycle battle, the battlegrounds are primarily political and governmental.

The tactics include:

• Public, energetic, and angry marches and demonstrations
• Passionate, vitriolic, and partisan commentary that preaches to the crowd and riles the base but fails to win new supporters
• Literal, logical, and personal argumentation
• Directing energy primarily at getting individual political candidates elected

But in a 100-year war, the battlegrounds are cultural and educational, and the short-term tactics above shift to the following long-term strategies:

• Personal, lifelong, classical education in the quiet of our homes
• Respectful, thoughtful, open-minded discussion with people across the whole spectrum of belief, with the intention of winning hearts and minds, rather than simply spewing passion or proving how smart and “right” we are
• Symbolic, metaphorical, and artful story-telling and persuasion
• Directing energy toward reforming education, building families and communities, and becoming successful entrepreneurs (see the three choices in FreedomShift by Oliver DeMille)

In a 100-year war, we moderate our passion and smarten our strategy.

We heal the roots of our demise, rather than hacking at the symptomatic leaves.

We work from love, rather than anger.

We reform from the outside-in and bottom-up, rather than the top-down. In other words, we focus on fixing ourselves, rather than Washington.

We understand that studying Montesquieu in our homes is far more effective than waving banners in the streets.

We spend our time and energy teaching the rising generation the depths of freedom and political philosophy, rather than debating opponents in chat rooms and on radio and TV shows.

We build successful small businesses, rather than complaining about losing jobs overseas.

In a 100-year war, idealism and pragmatism aren’t mutually exclusive. We’re more concerned with direction than destination.

In other words, we don’t reject particular policies because they’re not ultimate, black-and-white ideals.

Rather, we judge them based on whether or not they take us closer to the ideal, however slight the progress.

In a 100-year war, we learn and teach principles, rather than fight candidates.

To be perfectly clear, we don’t waste time forwarding mass emails about the status of Obama’s birth certificate.

Most importantly, in a 100-year war, independent freedom lovers create an inclusive tent, rather than an exclusive club.

For example, many conservatives denigrate environmentalists, or as they’re disdainfully labeled, “tree-huggers.”

But many of these environment-conscious, thoughtful people are also highly-conscious and passionate about local, organic food production and sustainable agriculture — which is a primary battleground for freedom.

So rather than building on common beliefs and bringing these people into the tent of freedom, many conservatives banish them with narrow-minded labels.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is also a favorite target of many conservative commentators.

But wise freedom-lovers would do well to harness their energy.

The truth is that they raise a critical point that most conservatives fail to see: Vast inequities in wealth distribution and power are, in fact, killing America — every bit as much, if not more so, than governmental wealth redistribution from rich to poor.

The government does favor those with capital over those with little or none, big businesses over small businesses, which creates these unfair and unsustainable inequities.

We don’t have to occupy Wall Street with them, but we can at least be wise enough to recognize where we agree in order to work together toward a more free, just, and sustainable society.

We can start winning more friends and creating fewer enemies. We can be pragmatic coalition-builders, rather than dogmatic clique-builders.

I’m as passionate about freedom as anyone — freedom is my mission.

But passion alone isn’t going to win the fight for freedom.

The war will be won through wisdom.

Rick Perry’s infamous “Oops” fumble during last night’s presidential debate is, of course, spreading like wildfire.

Predictably, many pundits have declared it to be his downfall.

Perry isn’t my choice for president.

But to anyone deciding not to vote for him on the basis of his poor debating skills, I ask this:

Since when was debate skill a critical criterion for an effective president?

As Charles Kessler recently wrote in his thought-provoking article, “Debating the Debates,” in the Claremont Review of Books:

“The tradition of presidential debating is not only relatively new (Kennedy-Nixon in 1960 was the first), it tests an art or aptitude that is irrelevant to the job.”

In fact, the reason why we continue getting status quo, pandering politicians is because we judge and elect them based on how charismatic and well-spoken they are.

Not on the substance of their character, or the resoluteness of their courage. Not on the depth of their knowledge, or the reach of their vision.

Not on their understanding of and adherence to the Constitution. Not on the clarity and wisdom of their foreign policy — the primary role of the executive.

We vote for them based on how well they stir our emotions, rather than how well they defend our freedoms. (Can anyone say “Hope and Change”?)

Presidential debates are a circus act. They draw high media ratings, but give us very little depth regarding the beliefs, characters, and abilities of our candidates.

No truly free citizen would base their voting decision on sixty-second debate sound bites.

As Charles Kessler would say, the debates may be good Saturday Night Live fodder, but they’re hardly the venue for determining who would make the best president.

Two days ago I published Monte and Laura Bledsoe’s letter, which detailed the infuriating inspection and threats by bureaucrats on their Quail Hollow Farm CSA on October 21, 2011.

They’ve now posted these four disturbing videos documenting the events.

I urge you to watch them.

The Bledsoes and people like them are my heroes.

It’s these types of people — entrepreneurial “mini-factory” owners, as Oliver DeMille puts it in The Coming Aristocracy — who will restore America.

As Oliver writes,

“…Others wonder how effective mini-factories can be in light of stifling regulation. That’s the whole point.

“By creating mini-factories, we both produce individuals with a pro-innovation, pro-free enterprise mindset who will ease regulation through voting, as well as organizations that by nature fight misguided regulation.

“It creates a drip system as an antithesis to bureaucracy and faulty regulation — drop by drop, on individual and organization at a time, the aristocratic system will be overwhelmed and deconstructed.

“In our current model of government and corporate dependence, aristocratic institutions, laws, and policies encounter only nominal resistance.

“More to the point, relatively few people are even aware of how burdensome our current regulatory environment is. Employees are largely shielded from red tape. Ironically, they feel its effect indirectly in almost every aspect of their lives, but few make the connection.

“Create a multitude of mini-factory owners and it’s a different story. Suddenly, freedom issues are brought to the forefront as more and more people clash with bureaucracy, and mass consciousness is awakened.”

Thank you Bledsoes, for having the courage to clash with bureaucracy and helping to awaken mass consciousness.

Watch these four videos now.

In no arena is the fight for freedom more critical and Washington tyranny more blatantly obvious than local, organic food production.

My dear friends, Monte and Laura Bledsoe, are the owners of Quail Hollow Farm CSA in Overton, Nevada.

They recently endured an infuriating experience with federal bureaucrats.

Every freedom-loving citizen needs to read their story and understand what’s happening on the food front.

This is published with permission from the Bledsoes:

Quail Hollow Farm
October 24, 2011
Written by Laura Bledsoe

Dearest Guests, (You have all become dear to us!)

What an evening we had this last Friday night! It had all the makings of a really great novel; drama, suspense, anticipation, crisis, heroic efforts, villains and victors, resolution and a happy ending.

The evening was everything I had dreamed and hoped it would be.

The weather was perfect, the farm was filled with friends and guests roaming around talking about organic, sustainable farming practices.

Our young interns were teaching and sharing their passion for farming and their role in it. (A high hope for our future!) The pig didn’t get loose.

Our guests were excited to spend an evening together. The food was prepared exquisitely.

The long dinner table, under the direction of dear friends, was absolutely stunningly beautiful. The music was superb.

The stars were bright, life was good.

And then…

It felt like the rug was pulled out from underneath us and my wonderful world came crashing down.

As guests were mingling, finishing tours of the farm, and while the first course of the meal was being prepared and ready to be sent out, a Southern Nevada Health District employee came for an inspection.

Because this was a gathering of people invited to our farm for dinner I had no idea that the Health Department would become involved.

I received a phone call from them two days before the event informing me that because this was a “public event” (I would like to know what is the definition of “public” and private”) we would be required to apply for a “special use permit.”

If we did not do so immediately we would be charged a ridiculous fine.

Stunned, we immediately complied.

We were in the middle of our harvest day for our CSA shares, a very busy time for us, but Monte immediately left to comply with the demand and filled out the required paper work and paid for the fee.

(Did I mention that we live in Overton, nowhere near a Health Department office?)

Paper work now in order he was informed that we would not actually be given the permit until an inspector came to check it all out. She came literally while our guests were arriving!

In order to overcome any trouble with the Health Department of cooking on the premises most of the food was prepared in a certified kitchen in Las Vegas and to further remove any doubt we rented a certified kitchen trailer to be here on the farm for the preparation of the meals.

The inspector, Mary Oaks, clearly not the one in charge of the inspection as she was constantly on the phone with her superior Susan somebody who was calling all the shots from who knows where.

Susan deemed our food unfit for consumption and demanded that we call off the event because:

1. Some of the prepared food packages did not have labels on them. (The code actually allows for this if it is to be consumed within 72 hours.)
2. Some of the meat was not USDA certified. (Did I mention that this was a farm to fork meal?)
3. Some of the food that was prepared in advance was not up to temperature at the time of inspection. (It was being prepared to be brought to proper temperature for serving when the inspection occurred.)
4. Even the vegetables prepared in advance had to be thrown out because they were cut and were then considered a “bio-hazard.”
5. We did not have receipts for our food. (Reminder! This food came from farms not from the supermarket! I have talked with several chefs who have said that in all their years cooking they have never been asked for receipts.)

At this time Monte, trying to reason with Susan to find a possible solution for the problem, suggested turning this event from a “public” event to a “private” event by allowing the guests to become part of our farm club, thus eliminating any jurisdiction or responsibility on their part.

This idea infuriated Susan and threatened that if we did not comply the police would be called and personally escort our guests off the property.

This is not the vision of the evening we had in mind! So regretfully, again we complied.

The only way to keep our guests on the property was to destroy the food.

I can’t tell you how sick to my stomach I was watching that first dish of Mint Lamb Meatballs hit the bottom of the unsanitized trash can.

Here we were with guests who had paid in advance and had come from long distances away anticipating a wonderful dining experience, waiting for dinner while we were behind the kitchen curtain throwing it away!

I know the hours and labor that went into the preparation of that food.

We asked the inspector if we could save the food for a private family event that we were having the next day. (A personal family choice to use our own food.)

We were denied and the inspector was insulted that we would even consider endangering our families health.

I assured her that I had complete faith and trust in Giovanni our chef and the food that was prepared, (obviously, or I wouldn’t be wanting to serve it to our guests).

I then asked if we couldn’t feed the food to our “public guests” or even to our private family, then at least let us feed it to our pigs.

(I think it should be a criminal action to waste any resource of the land. Being dedicated to our organic farm, we are forever looking for good inputs into our compost and soil and good food that can be fed to our animals. The animals and compost pile always get our left over garden surplus and food. We truly are trying to be as sustainable as possible.)

Again, a call to Susan and another negative response.

Okay, so let me get this right. So the food that was raised here on our farm and selected and gathered from familiar local sources, cooked and prepared with skill and love was even unfit to feed to my pigs?!

Who gave them the right to tell me what I feed my animals?

Not only were we denied the use of the food for any purpose, to ensure that it truly was unfit for feed of any kind we were again threatened with police action if we did not only throw the food in the trash, but then to add insult to injury, we were ordered to pour bleach on it.

Now the food is also unfit for compost as I would be negligent to allow any little critters to nibble on it while it was composting and ingest that bleach resulting in a horrible death.

Literally hundreds of pounds of food was good for nothing but adding to our ever increasing land fill!

At some point in all of this turmoil Monte reminded me that I had the emergency phone number for the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund on our refrigerator.

I put it there never really believing that I would ever have to use it.

We became members of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund several years ago as a protection for us, but mostly to add support to other farmers battling against the oppressive legal actions taken against the small farmers trying to produce good wholesome food without government intrusion.

The local, sustainable food battle is being waged all across America! May I mention that not one battle has been brought on because of any illness to the patrons of these farms!

The battles are started by government officials swooping down on farms and farmers like SWAT teams confiscating not only the wholesome food items produced but even their farm equipment!

Some of them actually wearing HAZMAT suits as if they were walking into a nuclear meltdown!

I have personally listened to some of their heart-wrenching stories and have continued to follow them through the FTCLDF’s updates.

Well, I made the call, told my story and within a short period of time received a phone call back from the FTCLDF’s leading council Gary Cox.

When told the story he simply suggested that we apply our fundamental constitutional right to be protected against “unlawful search and seizure.”

I simply had to ask Mary two questions:

1. Do you have a search warrant?
2. Do you have an arrest warrant?

With the answers being no I politely and very simply asked her to leave our property. As simple as that!

She had no alternative, no higher power, no choice whatsoever but to now comply to my desire. She left in a huff making a scene shouting that she was calling the police.

She left no paperwork, no Cease and Desist order, no record of any kind that implicated us for one thing, (we had complied to all their orders) only empty threats and a couple of trash cans full of defiled food.

I will get back to “the inspector” and her threats shortly. Let’s get to where it really gets good.

While I am on the verge of a literal break down. Monte and Gio get creative.

All right, we have just thrown all of this food away, we can’t do this, we can’t do that, what CAN we do?

Well, we have a vegetable farm and we do have fresh vegetables.

(By the way, we were denied even using our fresh vegetables until I informed our inspector that I do have a Producers Certificate from the Nevada Department of Agriculture allowing us to sell our vegetables and other farm products at the Farmers Market. Much of our produce has gone to some of the very finest restaurants in Las Vegas and St. George.)

The wind taken out of the inspectors sails Gio and his crew got cookin’. It just so happened that we had a cooled trailer full of vegetables ready to be taken to market the following day.

Monte hooked on to the trailer and backed it up right next to the kitchen. Our interns who were there to greet and serve now got to work with lamp oil and began harvesting anew.

Knives were chopping, pots of pasta and rice from our food storage were steaming, our bonfire was now turned into a grill and literal miracles were happening before our eyes!

In the mean time, Monte and I had to break the news to our guests. Rather than go into the details here, you can see the video footage on Mark Bowers and Kiki Kalor’s (our friends and guests) website at: http://www.reallyvegasphoto.com/Events/CSA-Farm-Government-Inspection, password Rth-2034.

We explained the situation, offered anyone interested a full refund, and told them that if they chose to stay their dinner was now literally being prepared fresh, as just now being harvested.

The reaction of our guests was the most sobering and inspirational experience of the evening. In an instant we were bonded together.

They were of course outraged at the lack of choice they were given in their meal. Outraged at the arrogance of coming to a farm dinner and being required to use only USDA (government inspected)meats.

Outraged at the heavy handedness of the Health Department into their lives.

Then there was the most tremendous outpouring of love and support. One of our guests, Marty Keach, informed us that he was an attorney and as appalled as everyone else offered his support and council if need be, even if it be to the Supreme Court. He was a great comfort in a tense time.

With their approval Giovanni and crew got cooking and the evening then truly began.

The atmosphere turned from tense and angry to loving and supportive.

As soon as I heard my brother Steve sit down and begin strumming his guitar I knew something special was happening.

Paid guests volunteered their services. Chef Shawn Wallace, a guest, joined Gio and his team his knife flying through the eggplant and squash.

Wendy and Thierry Pressyler and so many that I am not even aware of, were helping to grill and transport dishes.

Jason and Chrissy Doolen offered to run quick errands. Jeanne Frost, a server for the Wynn hotel, didn’t take a seat and began serving her fellow guests.

Before long we were seated at the beautiful table and the most incredible dishes began coming forth. It was literally “loaves and fishes” appearing before our very eyes!

We broke bread together, we laughed, we talked, we shared stories, we came together in the most marvelous way. Now this is what I had dreamed, only more marvelous than I could have ever imagined!

The sky being bright with glittering stars, we had the telescopes out and invited any guests who desired to look into our starry heaven.

While we were looking into the heavens, heaven was looking down upon us!

I can’t tell you the number of times I have felt the hand of providence helping us in the work of this farm.

As hard and demanding as this work is I KNOW that this is what we are meant to do. I KNOW that it is imperative that we stand up for our food choices.

I KNOW that local, organic, sustainable food produced by ourselves or by small family, local farms is indispensable to the health and well being of our families and our communities now and in the future!

If this work were not so vitally important, the “evil forces” would not be working so hard to pull it down.

We were victorious, we will be victorious, we must be! Our grandchildren’s future is at stake!

Back to the inspector. She did call the police. You must remember that we live in a small town. We know these officers.

They responded to the call dutifully but were desperately trying to figure out why they had been called. Never in all of their experience had they ever received a call like this.

Mary, the inspector demanded that they give us a citation. The officer in charge said that she was to give us the citation, she responded that no, they were to give us the citation, which they then asked her for what violation.

Even with the help of her superior on the phone she could not give them a reason. They asked her to leave which she did.

The police were very kind and apologetic for the intrusion. All of this was done without fanfare and out of sight of our guests.

The police officers are commended for their professionalism!

Now that we have come to the last chapter of our novel, I realize that it ends with a cliff-hanger.

As happy as the ending was, it isn’t “happily ever after” yet. This will remain to be seen in the ensuing days, weeks and even years ahead.

Tom Collins, our County Commissioner, furious by the events that took place, having formerly been a board member for the Southern Nevada Health District is putting together a meeting with himself, the current board members and ourselves to make sense of all this mess.

As so many of you have related verbally and through emails your desire to help and be involved, we will keep you informed as events take place.

I feel that we have been compelled to truly become active participants in the ongoing battle over our food choices.

This is just one small incident that brings to our awareness how fragile our freedoms are. We are now ready to join the fight!

We would encourage all of you who can to contribute and to become a member of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund. They are not only fighting for the farmers, they are fighting for the consumers to have the right to choose.

As I close, I am reminded of the passage written so forcefully by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:

“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”

The same battle continues. I pray the result of the battle will be the same, that we have been “endowed by our Creator with … life and liberty.”

Monte and Laura Bledsoe