Portland Police Peppered my Papoose

My baby was pepper-sprayed yesterday. I'm so proud. Well and truly. As part of what seems to be an organized movement against a movement, the police have shut down Occupy Portland (in addition to much unrest in many parks across the country), where my son has been contributing his time and energy to the same cause to which I dedicate myself here in Bellingham. Though I've never been tear-gassed or pepper-sprayed, I know that my very presence here makes that a possibility (though a slim one, as the Bellingham police have been quite gracious). Knowing that my son stood his ground against injustice the same way I would have done makes me a very proud mum, indeed.

I've lost track of the number of nights I've slept in a cold tent...I think last night makes night 20 (night 21 for the camp, but I missed a night when I went home to tend to my cat who now lives with me here). Today marks the beginning of Week Four here at Noisy Waters (our camp name, the native meaning for Whatcom, the county in which I live). I would never have believed I'd be living in a tent at my age, especially when I have a warm, dry, comfortable, cozy apartment of my own. I suppose it's taken me this long to finally know who I am, what I stand for and against, and what is so important that I will make sacrifices I'd never have considered making.

Why the hell am I doing this? For my granddaughter. So my wee Kalliepillar Flutterby won't grow up ingesting growth hormones in the milk that she drinks and genetically modified foods that haven't been tested. My granddaughter deserves the very best planet I can give her. Unfortunately, that planet has been overrun by corporations like Monsanto that buy their way into our government and into our food supply. When a former bigwig for Monsanto becomes a chief advisor for the Food and Drug Administration, there's a huge problem. Can you say conflict of interest?

Monsanto is just one very scary corporation whose government money threatens us. And not merely financially, like some of the others who take away our homes, underpay/underemploy us, or give our jobs to someone who will do it much more cheaply overseas. By continuing to be ignorant and or apathetic of their practices, we are allowing them to poison our food chain. We are inviting them to take away our small family farms as they sue farmer after farmer when they conveniently discover that a single kernel of their corn has "volunteered" on the next farm over. "You can't grow our seeds...those are our property. Now we will sue your farm away from you with our great corporate gain and legal team you can't afford to beat." They are sneaky cheaters, throwing money at the government who looks away, choosing not to see the potential dangers that the chemicals they are producing will eventually eradicate entire plant species which are beneficial to man. Do some research into what Monsanto's weed killer, Roundup, is really doing to our world. Seems to me that a corporation that manufactures plant killers probably shouldn't be in the business of growing the genetically altered food the government tells us is "just fine" to eat.

And Monsanto's GMOs may do us all in, as testing isn't always done; "these foods are essentially the same as what you're used to eating, so extended testing isn't necessary". Really? You're fooling around with isolating the particular section of a gene from an animal that will, say, allow a plant to require less water and be heartier in adverse conditions, and you expect us to believe that it's basically the same thing that our ancestors grew? Pardon me if I cry bullshit, but "Bullshit". What's scarier about all of this is that, when combined with the text of the Codex Ailmentarius, written in 1962, you realize that the whole food supply becomes a potential weapon. And our very own government, there to protect us, right(?), has been so caught up in the want of more, more, more, that they look the other way while the ones pouring money into their coffers are simultaneously pouring poison down our throats.

This is just one example of what one corporation's money in our government is doing. And just look how deep it goes! If this one corporation alone is creating such problems for mankind while getting richer and richer as they do it, don't you wonder what the others are doing? Isn't it time to take a stand against that? Isn't it potentially the time to be pepper-sprayed if there's a chance that it will keep your granddaughter from growing breasts when she's nine years old and menstruating at the age of ten? Now is the time for action...we have been submissive and quiet for too long. I am living in a cold, wet, tent in the winter (it snowed some last night) to remind others that things are rotten in the state of America, and to rally with those who know that we have to change this system. Now. And hope it's not too late.