A day with Andrew

I am so excited as tomorrow I will be spending the day with Andrew.  It kind of bothers me, because it will be Jacob's birthday, and I have never been away from one of my children on their birthday.  However, Jacob said that it's ok because it's for, "A good cause".

It also helps that I spent all day with Jacob yesterday in Bismarck so I feel a little bit less guilty.   I saw clients, while he studied in my other office room, and then we took care of ourselves.  He went to Dr. Faye for a cranio-sacral treatment and I went for another massage with Jessica--can she ever give a massage.  I'll share what I learned about feet and shoes from her another time--after I have some good results to share with you.
Anyway, Andrew and I are going to be spending the day in Fargo tomorrow.  The North Dakota Home School Association has been encouraging people to take the training over there to become delegates to the Republican convention in Bismarck next March. 
Our family has been pretty politically active since 2002 when we had to try to save our organic farm from Monsanto's unwanted GM wheat.  However, this will defintely be taking activism one step further.  By attending the training, we'll learn how best to influence the political process for God in the choosing of those people who run for office. 
The John Birch Society will have a training time as well.  Robert B., who is the supervisor over our state, will be speaking on the Consitution.  I guess we will get to learn more about how to get our Representatives and Senators to vote according to their oath to uphold the Consitution of our great country.
Then, for the grand finale, we will get to hear Ron Paul speak.  Andrew and I heard him in Bismarck when he was running for President last time around.  We were so encouraged to hear someone speak about morals as being a priority for the leadership of our country.  WHAT A NOVEL IDEA!!!!!
Here are the links for more information if you are feeling led to join Andrew and I tomorrow for this inspiring day.  The Campaign for Liberty people have a 4 hour delegate training, which includes lunch, that costs $15.  Then the John Birch Society will have their talk about the Consitution which is free.  Lastly, the North Dakota Policy Council is hosting the Ron Paul talk which can cost anywhere from $35 to $500 depending on how VIPish you are feeling. 
  http://www.campaignforliberty.com/usa/ND/#cal12601                              
  http://www.policynd.org/
Lastly, I want to pass on this email from the home school office.  If you are feeling the nudge to attend the trainings tomorrow, then you will want to take the time to read this as it has vital information for you to ponder.  If not, then just skip it.
It would be wonderful, if everyone who is concerned about the direction that our country is going, would take a few moments to pray for the meetings tomorrow.  The forecast doesn't sound very good, so please pray for safety on the roads as people travel to and from the meetings.  It would be even more wonderful if you could all join us over in Fargo. 
HERE'S TO FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dawn

Dear home schoolers,

It is vital toward home education freedom to get pro-home schooling candidates on the ballet, not just candidates that say that they support home schooling, because they all say that they support home schooling.

We need candidates that understand Biblical and constitutional freedom and are willing to fight for both in the context of home education as well as other areas.

Practically speaking, to get such candidates on the ballet means that home schoolers with Biblical and Constitutional convictions need to be the ones selecting the candidates.

There is a training session for you to learn how to become a delegate on November 5^th in Fargo. Please attend if you can, if you can’t, train yourself and be a delegate from your district anyhow. A few of the details are below.

Thanks for seriously considering this important political involvement! Details below…

How do you defend liberty and control government?

Become a Delegate!

How do you ensure the right people are elected to office?

How do you secure the rights of the unborn from an ever growing and powerful government which is controlled more and more by officials who don’t share your beliefs, don’t represent your values and are working against our inalienable right to life?

By voting in the November election? NO, November is too late! 

If you want your vote to have the biggest impact; if you want to actually have a part in determining your choice of candidates - you need to be involved in your legislative district and become a delegate to your party’s convention. It is the delegates that determine which candidates name gets on the ballot for the November election:

At the district level:

• The candidates for the state legislature are chosen.
• The delegates to the state convention are chosen. And it is these delegates that determine which candidates will be elected in the fall by choosing who will be on the ballot.
• Becoming a delegate usually involves nothing more than applying and singing a sign-up sheet. If more people apply to be delegates than your districts can accommodate, then there will be a vote. This where you need to be familiar with your district’s by-laws ahead of time to be sure everyone is given a fair opportunity to become a delegate.

What does a Delegate do?

A Delegate to the State Convention represents (in fact, determines) the will of the party, and carries the voice of the grass roots. The Delegate helps direct the path the party takes by deciding who will be the party's candidates in state and federal races. Delegates to the State Conventions choose the Delegates to the National Conventions where the presidential candidates are chosen. All the debates about who is the best candidate and how much support will go to each candidate are all really decided at the district level and then at the State Convention. After that, voting on Election Day is little more than as a rubber stamp for what others have already decided.

How to become a Delegate in 5 easy steps:

1. Find out what Legislative District you live in and who Chairman is for your Legislative District. 

Here is the interactive map of North Dakota’s legislative districts: http://web.apps.state.nd.us/hubexplorer/legislativedist/viewer.html

For the ND Republican Party: http://www.northdakotagop.org/about/district-chairs/

2. Attend your Districts Reorganization and Nominating Convention.

Contact the Chairman of your Legislative District. Ask them when they will be holding their Reorganization Meeting (district officers will be elected during you reorganization meeting – you must be there for this one-time meeting) and their Nominating Convention. Mark these dates on your calendar and attend. 

3. Read and understand your State Party and Legislative District by-laws.

These bylaws will determine how candidates and delegates will be chosen. You need to make sure that you have complied with those rules in order to become a Delegate.

The ND Republican Party by-laws are here: http://www.northdakotagop.org/rules-and-mode/

Your Legislative Districts will also have their own version of these by-laws. You need to get a copy of your Legislative District’s by-laws from your district chair.

4. Actively participate in your District Nominating Convention.

It cannot be emphasized enough: Attendance at these meetings is vital! There is no substitute for your attendance. There is no other opportunity to have your voice heard. Once decisions are made at the District Convention, it’s final. 

Choosing Delegates to the State Convention: It is only at your district nominating convention that delegates to the State Convention are chosen. The process for choosing Delegates depends on:

• The District's bylaws
• The number of people who attend this meeting
• The number of delegates your district is allowed
• The leadership style of the District Chairman.

5. Attend the State Convention

The State GOP state convention will be March 31 and April 1, 2012 in Bismarck at the Bismarck Convention Center. Almost all of the significant voting will occur on Saturday, March 31^st.

NOVEMBER 5^th Delegate Training

Pro-life supporters and homeschoolers, ask yourself, honestly, how much of a difference do you think you've been able to make in our state government? Do you have enough legislators who address your concerns, who support your position? How many times has your legislation been stalled, amended, killed? Do you feel like you are swimming upstream and what little progress you make comes at great cost? Do you think we have candidates who will promote and protect freedom?

The problem isn't your issue or your passion for that issue. The problem is, you are playing by the wrong rules! You are playing by the rules they taught you in High School. But the reality, politics has a whole different rule book that they want to keep hidden.  

If you want to be effective, you need to learn how to play by the real rule book. Armed with the real rule book, you can become a force for change. You can literally change the political landscape OVERNIGHT. Don't wait for 2014 or 2016. Don't work on a 4-year or 10-year plan. Make changes NOW, today. 

Come listen to special guest speaker and successful activist Jeff Greenspan, who will teach us how to bring the Republican Party back to its conservative roots and become the activists that will restore freedom.

Training will begin at 10:00am and go until 2:00pm, with a break for lunch. It will be held at the Radisson Hotel, 201 5th St. N in Fargo, right across the street from the Civic Center where the NDPC event will be held later that evening. The cost is only $15, which includes lunch and all materials. 

 Jeff knows how the political system works and what it takes to change it. He will give us some great schooling on how to be effective activists. Jeff has been an activist since 1988. He was a precinct committeeman, county delegate and state delegate in the Utah Republican Party. Jeff was a precinct committeeman, state committeeman and state delegate in the Arizona Republican Party, serving as Vice Chairman for the Maricopa County Republican Committee, the 5th largest county Republican party in America, from 2007-2009. Jeff worked for the Ron Paul 2008 presidential campaign as the southwestern United States campaign director. Since then he has been state coordinator for the Arizona Campaign for Liberty. Jeff is a political activist who has changed the direction of the GOP in Arizona.

The training will cover these topics:
     Principles of Liberty
        What We Are Up against
        Nature of Political Power
        Mechanics of Local Political Involvement 

You do not want to miss this training.

This is a great deal for anyone who wants to see North Dakota politics change. Even better, college students who take the training will receive a free ticket to the Free Market Forum with Congressman Ron Paul and conservative commentator Jack Hunter that evening.

Don’t miss the Delegate Training and the Free Market Forum on November 5th, and look for additional news regarding other events on that day.

Are they starting to get it?

This blog is called A RAY OF HOPE because sometimes that's all we have-that's the bad news.  The good news is that, sometimes, that's all we need.  That's how I felt this morning when I read this short clip in the email from the Organic Consumer's Association (http://www.organicconsumers.org/).  My day yesterday was so fantastic, as I worked with 5 clients in my Bismarck office, that this little bit of good news has pushed me over into WONDERFUL mood!
  If you are concerned at all about the quality of food available for your family in the grocery store, then I highly recommend you become a regular reader of OCA.  You can also get on their email list and learn of events in the organic food world on a regular basis. 
This made my day and I hope that the last comment will encourage all of you.  Many of us feel like we're the Lone Ranger, but we're NOT!  A lot of individuals working together can take back the world for GOD!  I hope that this will pick up your "What can I do about this massive problem?" spirits.

Monsanto Exec Admits that Nature Is Smarter Than Biotech

"You don't need [biotech] for something that nature has already figured out."
- Consuelo Madre, vice president of Monsanto's global vegetable group, explaining why the company was using conventional breeding rather than genetic engineering to produce its vegetable seeds, in "Sprouting a New Line of Produce Seeds," by P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2011.

Huffstutter also points out that using traditional techniques allows Monsanto to "avoid the financial and consumer hurdles that would inevitably come with rolling out genetically engineered produce for a grocery store."

Another option to consider is joining the John Birch Society.  You can learn about their good work at: JBS.org.  Jacob and I attended our first meeting last week and already I am encouraged to learn that we are NOT alone here.  Next month our state's leader will be starting a series of 3 monthly meetings on the US Constitution and how we can use it to save our country.  THERE IS HOPE FOR OUR COUNTRY, FOLKS, AND IT COMES IN BUILDING COMMUNITIES ONE STEP AT A TIME AND TOGETHER MAKING OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS STICK TO THE CONSTITUTION!!!!!!!!
Happy Sabbath to all of you out there.  If you've never kept the Sabbath that God began at creation, I urge you to just do no work tomorrow (starting after dark tonight).  Be still and see the miracles that God has in store for you!  Every week, God shows Himself to our family in new and exciting ways when we pause from our labors and focus on His beautiful character on the day that HE rested from His labors of creating the Earth.
My love to you,
Dawn

Facelift and hope

As you can see, I have yielded to the social pressures of my blogging family to change my blog look.  Jacob said, "It's down right boring, Mom, to keep it that way for so long."  Of course, he's been saying that for months and I finally decided to change it on Sabbath just in time for Fall.  How do you like the leaves?

This morning I was greatly encouraged by Dr. Mercola's article on genetically modified foods.  It just goes to show the power of a lot of "Little" people banding together.  Here's the post and I hope that you are as encouraged as I was as you read it.  Please pray about how God would want you to get involved in this battle.  Yes, it DOES involve you if you buy any food from a grocery store and eat it!

Dawn

The Label Even Monsanto Considers a 'Skull and Crossbones'...

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 03

By: Ronnie Cummins
Organic Consumers Association

"If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." - Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto, quoted in the Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994
Monsanto and Food Inc.'s stranglehold over the nation's food and farming system is about to be challenged in a food fight that will largely determine the future of American agriculture.
A growing corps of organic food and health activists in California—supported by consumers and farmers across the nation—are boldly standing up to Monsanto and its minions, taking the first steps to expose the widespread contamination of non-organic grocery store foods with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and moving to implement mandatory GMO labeling through a grassroots-powered Citizens Ballot Initiative process.

Dr. Mercola Recommends...

Every "Like" Helps Support This Cause

This week, lawyers representing a broad and unprecedented health, environmental, and consumer coalition, including the Organic Consumers Association, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, Center for Food Safety, Mercola.com, Nature's Path, Natural News.com, LabelGMOs.org, Food Democracy Now, and the Institute for Responsible Technology, filed papers with the California Attorney General's office to place a Citizens Initiative on the Ballot in November, 2012 that would require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods and food ingredients.
If California voters pass this ballot initiative in 2012, it will likely be the beginning of the end for Monsanto and genetically engineered food in the U.S. According to Zuri Starr, a Southern California field organizer for the Organic Consumers Association:

"The California Ballot Initiative is perhaps our last chance to stop the Biotech Express, to overthrow Biotechnology's dictatorial regime and build a safe and sustainable food and farming system based upon the ethical principles of consumer choice and BioDemocracy."

Moving the Battleground

After 20 years of biotech bullying and force-feeding unlabeled and hazardous genetically modified (GM) foods to animals and humans—aided and abetted by the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations— a critical mass of food and health activists have decided it's time to move beyond small skirmishes and losing battles and go on the offensive.
It's time to move the food fight over labeling GM food from the unfavorable terrain of Washington D.C. and Capitol Hill, where Monsanto and Food Inc. exercise control, to California, the heartland of organic food and farming and anti-GMO sentiment, where 80-85 percent of the body politic, according to recent polls, support mandatory labeling.
The trillion-dollar biotech, supermarket, and food industry are acutely conscious of the fact that North American consumers, like their European counterparts, are wary and suspicious of genetically engineered food.
Consumers understand you don't want your food safety or environmental sustainability decisions to be made by out-of-control chemical and biotech companies like Monsanto, Dow, or DuPont--the same people who brought us toxic pesticides and industrial chemicals, Agent Orange, carcinogenic food additives, and PCBs. Biotech, food, and grocery corporations are alarmed by the fact that every poll over the last 20 years has shown that 85-95 percent of American consumers want mandatory labels on genetically modified foods.

Europe Shows Labels Drive GMOs off the Market

Why are there basically no genetically engineered foods or crops anywhere in Europe, while 75 percent of U.S. supermarket foods—including many so-called "natural" foods—are GE tainted?
The answer is simple. In Europe genetically modified foods and ingredients have to be labeled. In the U.S. they do not. Up until now, in North America, Monsanto and the Biotechnocrats have enjoyed free reign to secretly lace non-organic foods with gene-spliced viruses, bacteria, antibiotic-resistant marker genes, and foreign DNA—mutant "Frankenfoods" shown to severely damage the health of animals, plants, and other living organisms in numerous scientific studies.
Monsanto and their allies understand the threat that truth-in-labeling poses for GMOs.
As soon as genetically modified foods start to be labeled in the U.S., millions of consumers will start to read these labels and react. They'll complain to grocery store managers and companies, they'll talk to their family and friends. They'll start switching to foods that are organic or at least GMO-free. Once enough consumers start complaining about GM foods and food ingredients; stores will eventually stop selling them; and farmers will stop planting them.
Genetically engineered foods have absolutely no benefit for consumers or the environment, only hazards.
This is why Monsanto and their friends in the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations have prevented consumer GMO
Passing mandatory GMO labeling in just one large state, California, where there is tremendous opposition to GM foods as well as a multi-billion dollar organic food industry, will ultimately have the same impact as a national labeling law.
If California food and health activists succeed in putting a GMO labeling initiative on the ballot in 2012 and the voters pass it, the biotech and food industry will face an intractable dilemma. Will they dare put labels on their branded food products in just one state, California, admitting these products contain or may contain genetically engineered ingredients, while withholding this ingredient label information in the other states? Will they allow their organic and non-GMO competitors to drive down their GMO-tainted brand market share? The answer to both of these questions is likely no. What most of them will do is start to shift to organic and non-GMO ingredients, so as to avoid what the Monsanto executive 16 years ago aptly described as the "skull and crossbones" label.

California Label Laws Have National Impact: Proposition 65

A clear indication of the impact of warning labels on consumer products was established in California in 1986 when voters passed, over the strenuous opposition of industry, a ballot initiative called Proposition 65, which required consumer products with potential cancer-causing ingredients to bear warning labels. Rather than label their products sold in California as likely carcinogenic, most companies reformulated their product ingredients so as to avoid warning labels altogether, and they did this on a national scale, not just in California.
This same scenario will likely unfold again in California in 2012. Can you imagine Kellogg's selling its Corn Flakes breakfast cereal in California with a label that admits it contains or may contain genetically engineered corn? How about Kraft Boca Burgers admitting that their soybean ingredients are genetically modified?
How about the entire non-organic food industry (including many so-called "natural" brands) admitting that 75 percent of their products are GE-tainted? Once food manufacturers and supermarkets are forced to come clean and label genetically engineered products, they will likely remove all GM ingredients, to avoid the "skull and crossbones" effect, just like the food industry in the EU has done. In the wake of this development American farmers will convert millions of acres of GM crops to non-GMO or organic varieties.
Finally consumers will be able to tell the difference between organic food (labeled as "organic" and thereby GMO-free); natural food (which will not have a GMO label), and bogus "natural" food (which will be required to display the label "contains or may contain GMOs").

What Now? OCA Needs Volunteers and Money

Since we don't have a couple of million dollars to spare like Monsanto does, we're going to have to rely on an army of volunteers to gather signatures. These volunteers can be trained and coordinated by our small but highly dedicated and experienced paid campaign staff and consultants, but for the most part we must drive this campaign forward with volunteer labor.

Please, Join Us and Take Action NOW!

Among other tasks over the next month, our staff and volunteer coordinators will be organizing several hundred short training sessions in local communities across California. These short and relatively simple training sessions--a couple of hours or less--will train our volunteers on what to do, where to go, and how to be effective in gathering signatures of registered voters to put the GE labeling measure on the ballot.
These training meetings, a number of which have already been successfully organized, will also enable volunteers to meet and get to know other volunteers in their local area.
We need to recruit, train and deploy a grassroots network of 2000+ California volunteers (each gathering 250 or more petition signatures over the 105 day period) and district coordinators in order to gather the 500,000-700,000 signatures of California registered voters over the 15-week period that extends between the first week of November 2011 and mid-March 2012.
These volunteers must be recruited, trained by our campaign staff in a meeting in their local area, and deployed in teams of 2 to 4 people in front of natural food stores and high volume pedestrian locations across California starting early in November.
In order to hit the ground running in early November we need your help now. We not only need petition gathering volunteers, we need money. OCA and our allied lobbying organization, the Organic Consumers Fund, estimate that we need to raise at least $80,000 over the next month in order to effectively pay our staff, consultants, and other campaign expenses.

• If you live in California and are willing to attend a training session and then start collecting petition signatures (you will be part of a team of 2-4 people) in early November, sign up here
• Whether you live in California or not, please make a donation to further this historic effort

The future of our food supply literally depends upon the success of this campaign. Join us now!