Could You Have Passed the 8th Grade in 1895?
...Take a Look:

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 from Salina, KS. USA.
It was taken from the original document on file at the Smoky Valley
Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the
Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7 - 10.  Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. per bu., deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at $20 per m?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per are, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of theRebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates:
1607
1620
1800
1849
1865

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling.  Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a  word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono,super.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd,cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, Cite, site, sight, fane,fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced andindicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is theocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba,Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.
 

Since we are on the subject of truckers, take a look at these interesting articles...

TRUCKERS SHUT DOWN - The Momentum Is Building
Truckers Plan Strike on September 11th
July 16th, 2008

“My trucking Co & thousands of others will no longer accept any loads at ANY price until such time as our FED Gov admits & puts into action a plan that will give all O/Os some help. ((Dan Little Trucking http://www.owneroperatorsunited.org)

Here is what I would like to see happen,

1# suspend ALL Fed & State fuel taxes until such time that this economy is back on its feet,

2# Fed create a FED Oversight Committee to oversee Ins Premiums Charged for Class 8 trucks Insurance,

3# Stop allowing Large Trucking Fleets to self Insure, this would make a more level playing field for all trucking Cos,

4# Fed Regulations for Brokers & Shippers that are enforced, with set max amounts they can charge,

5# Standardized Fines from Coast to Coast for safety violations. In other words if a log ticket cost $50.00 in Missouri then a log ticket in California should only cost $50.00
I will not return to hauling until our Gov. the people we put into office gets off their butts and does something to help this Industry my email address is dlittle@uscattlehaulers.com
Send me an email if you plan on shutting down on September 11, 2008?
Read about it here: http://justanothercoverup.com/?p=518


It appears that, after going to http://www.owneroperatorsunited.org, the strike wont be happening anytime soon. Too bad. I thought it would be a good idea. With a nationwide strike, the government and the media would not be able to ignore them.

More trucker strikes...

90,000 Spanish truckers strike over soaring fuel prices
Monday, June 09, 2008
CBC News -- An estimated 90,000 Spanish truck drivers launched a strike on Monday to protest fuel prices that have jumped by 20 per cent since the beginning of the year.

The truckers, who stopped working at midnight, blocked roads and shipping centres in areas like Barcelona, Valencia and the Basque region, BBC News is reporting. They also blocked some border crossings into neighbouring France, and smashed the windshields of some trucks that attempted to cross the picket lines.

The strikers are getting support from truckers in neighbouring Portugal and France, who have also launched their own protests as diesel prices soar across Europe. In Spain, they have risen above $2.10 a litre. In Canada, by contrast, the average price of diesel is $1.43 a litre, according to the latest numbers by MJ Ervin & Associates Inc.
Visit CBC News for full article: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/09/spain-fuel.html

Millions of Indian truckers strike
 by AFP on Thursday, 03 July 2008
An estimated four million Indian truckers on Wednesday went on strike to press for uniform diesel prices and protest at an increase in taxes, the government and a union leader said.
Continued here: http://www.arabianbusiness.com/523692-millions-of-india-truckers-in-strike-over-hikes-in-tax-fuel-price

Yes, you can! You can write in anyone you want. I've heard of people writing in their dog instead. Honest! 

OK, This election has certainly gone to the dogs. I refuse to vote for the "lesser of two evils" ([edited] or [edited]). I will write in Poco for President. I'm sure he will do a much better job than both of them put together. 

I got this email today from the Traditional Cat Association and I thought I would pass it along.

Subject: Warning to all dog and cat owners - pass this on to everyone you can

This was checked this out on Snopes & it is true.  Here is the link to
further information: http://www.snopes.com/critters/crusader/xylitol.asp

Last Friday evening, I arrived home from work, fed Chloe, our 24 Lb. dachshund, just as I normally do. Ten minutes later I walked into the den just in time to see her head inside the pocket of Katie's friend's purse. She had a guilty look on  her face so I looked closer and saw a small package of  sugar-free gum. It contained xylitol. I remembered that I  had recently read that sugar-free gum can be deadly for dogs  so I jumped on line and looked to see if xylitol was the ingredient. I found the first website below and it was the one.  Next, I called our vet. She said to bring her in  immediately. Unfortunately, it was still rush hour and it  took me almost 1/2 hour to get there. Meanwhile, since this  was her first case, our vet found another website to figure  out the treatment. She took Chloe and said they would induce her to vomit, give her a charcoal drink to absorb the toxin (even though they don't think it works) then they would start an IV with dextrose. The xylitol causes dogs to secrete insulin so their blood sugar drops very quickly. The second  thing that happens is liver failure. If that happens, even with aggressive treatment, it can be difficult to save them. She told us she would call us.

Almost two hours later, the vet called and said that contents of her stomach contained 2-3 gum wrappers and that her blood sugar had dropped from 90 to 59 in 30 minutes. She wanted us to take Chloe to another hospital that has a critical care unit operating around the clock. We picked her up and took her  there. They had us call the ASPCA poison control for a case number and for a donation, their doctors would direct Chloe's doctor on treatment. They would continue the IV, monitor her blood every other hour and then in 2 days test her liver function. She ended up with a central line in her jugular vein since the one in her leg collapsed, just as our  regular vet had feared.

Chloe spent almost  the entire weekend in the critical care hospital. After her  blood sugar was stabilized, she came home yesterday. They ran all the tests again before they released her and so far, no sign of liver damage. Had I not seen her head in the purse,  she probably would have died and we wouldn't even had known why.

Three vets told me this weekend that they were amazed that I even knew about it since they are first learning about it too. Please tell everyone you know about xylitol and dogs. It may save another life.

Sometimes I would wonder when they were going to try this. Good grief! I cant imagine what would happen if they succeed.

Jurassic Park comes true: How scientists are bringing dinosaurs back to life with the help of the humble chicken
By Zoe Brennan
13th June 2008

"Scientists now believe it is possible to resurrect the dinosaur after the discovery of DNA relics in the wings and beaks of regular chickens"

Read it here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1026340/Jurassic-Park-comes-true-How-scientists-bringing-dinosaurs-life-help-humble-chicken.html

 It's happening and it could be as soon as 2010. There are documented facts that the internet, as we know it today, will disappear. For those wondering why we are experiencing "black holes" read on. It will only get worse. In the very near future we will be forced to purchase internet access. It will be something like having to subscribe to a package, much like cable or satellite TV. The internet, including email will become financially prohibited for many of us. We will have NO FREE SPEACH and you can kiss all our alternative news sites good by if this is allowed to happen.

Remember to click on the links in the article.


Secret Plan To Kill Internet By 2012 Leaked?
Some question if report that pay-per-view system to be introduced is a hoax, but wider march to regulate the web is documented
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
      
ISP's have resolved to restrict the Internet to a TV-like subscription model where users will be forced to pay to visit selected corporate websites by 2012, while others will be blocked, according to a leaked report. Despite some people dismissing the story as a hoax, the wider plan to kill the traditional Internet and replace it with a regulated and controlled Internet 2 is manifestly provable.

"Bell Canada and TELUS (formerly owned by Verizon) employees officially confirm that by 2012 ISP's all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These 'other' sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet," warns a report http://ipower.ning.com/netneutrality2 that has spread like wildfire across the web over the last few days.

The article, which is accompanied by a You Tube clip, states that Time Magazine writer "Dylan Pattyn" has confirmed the information and is about to release a story - and that the move to effectively shut down the web could come as soon as 2010.

People have raised questions about the report's accuracy because the claims are not backed by another source, only the "promise" that a Time Magazine report is set to confirm the rumor. Until such a report emerges many have reserved judgment or outright dismissed the story as a hoax.

What is documented, as the story underscores, is the fact that TELUS' wireless web package allows only restricted pay-per-view access to a selection of corporate and news websites. This is the model that the post-2012 Internet would be based on http://www.telusmobility.com/on/wweb/wirelesswebsites.shtml.

People have noted that the authors of the video seem to be more concerned about getting people to subscribe to their You Tube account than fighting for net neutrality by prominently featuring an attractive woman who isn't shy about showing her cleavage. The vast majority of the other You Tube videos hosted on the same account consist of bizarre avante-garde satire skits on behalf of the same people featured in the Internet freedom clip. This has prompted many to suspect that the Internet story is merely a stunt to draw attention to the group.

Whether the report is accurate or merely a crude hoax, there is a very real agenda to restrict, regulate and suffocate the free use of the Internet and we have been documenting its progression for years.

The first steps in a move to charge for every e mail sent have already been taken. Under the pretext of eliminating spam, Bill Gates and other industry chieftains have proposed Internet users buy credit stamps which denote how many e mails they will be able to send. This of course is the death knell for political newsletters and mailing lists http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/.

The New York Times reported that "America Online and Yahoo, two of the world's largest providers of e-mail accounts, are about to start using a system that gives preferential treatment to messages from companies that pay from 1/4 of a cent to a penny each to have them delivered. The senders must promise to contact only people who have agreed to receive their messages, or risk being blocked entirely."

The first wave will simply attempt to price people out of using the conventional Internet and force people over to Internet 2, a state regulated hub where permission will need to be obtained directly from an FCC or government bureau to set up a website.

The original Internet will then be turned into a mass surveillance database and marketing tool http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/february2006/030206endofinternet.htm. The Nation magazine reported in 2006 that, "Verizon, Comcast, Bell South and other communications giants are developing strategies that would track and store information on our every move in cyberspace in a vast data-collection and marketing system, the scope of which could rival the National Security Agency. According to white papers now being circulated in the cable, telephone and telecommunications industries, those with the deepest pockets--corporations, special-interest groups and major advertisers--would get preferred treatment. Content from these providers would have first priority on our computer and television screens, while information seen as undesirable, such as peer-to-peer communications, could be relegated to a slow lane or simply shut out."


Over the past few years, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs:

• Time magazine reported last year http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/april2007/130407internet.htm that researchers funded by the federal government want to shut down the internet and start over, citing the fact that at the moment there are loopholes in the system whereby users cannot be tracked and traced all the time.
  The projects echo moves we have previously reported on to clamp down on internet neutrality and even to designate a new form of the internet known as Internet 2 http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/030506_b_Internet2.htm.

• In a display of bi-partisanship, there have recently been calls for all out mandatory ISP snooping on all US citizens by both Democrats and Republicans alike.

• The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2006/070906terroristrecruiters.htm.

• The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Raw_obtains_CENTCOM_email_to_bloggers_1016.html.

• In a speech last October, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills." His solution is "intelligence fusion centers," staffed by Homeland Security personnel which will go into operation next year. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/October2006/171006Web.htm

• The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their activities to Congress. Criminal charges including a possible jail term of up to one year could be the punishment for non-compliance. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/january2007/180107bloggers.htm

• A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/november2006/291106shutdown.htm.

• A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/december2006/201206illegaltolink.htm

• The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down "terrorists" who use the Internet to spread propaganda. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/october2006/261006targetsbloggers.htm

• The EU data retention bill, passed last year after much controversy and with implementation tabled for late 2007, obliges telephone operators and internet service providers to store information on who called who and who emailed who for at least six months. Under this law, investigators in any EU country, and most bizarrely even in the US, can access EU citizens' data on phone calls, SMS messages, emails and instant messaging services. http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/may2006/150506information.htm

• The EU also recently proposed legislation that would prevent users from uploading any form of video without a license. http://infowars.net/articles/October2006/171006Internet.htm

• The US government is also funding research into social networking sites and how to gather and store personal data published on them, according to the New Scientist magazine. "At the same time, US lawmakers are attempting to force the social networking sites themselves to control the amount and kind of information that people, particularly children, can put on the sites." http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2006/030706networksnooping.htm


The development of a new form of internet with new regulations is also designed to create an online caste system whereby the old internet hubs would be allowed to break down and die, forcing people to use the new taxable, censored and regulated world wide web.

Make no mistake, the internet, one of the greatest outposts of free speech ever created is under constant attack by powerful people who cannot operate within a society where information flows freely and unhindered. Both American and European moves mimic stories we hear every week out of state controlled Communist China, where the internet is strictly regulated and virtually exists as its own entity away from the rest of the web.

The Internet is freedom's best friend and the bane of control freaks. Its eradication is one of the short term goals of those that seek to centralize power and subjugate their populations under tyranny by eliminating the right to protest and educate others by the forum of the free world wide web.

Prevent Chinese chicken from entering our food supply.
Take Action
Food & Water Watch
goodfood@fwwatch.org
June 5, 2008

Now is not the time to allow more food from China.  Tell Congress to say "No thanks!"

The Chinese government and some big agribusiness players want to export processed chicken from China to the U.S.  However, the Chinese food safety system doesn't have the best track record.  In the past year alone, American consumers have been exposed to dangerous imports ranging from deadly pet food and blood thinners, to toxic toys and fish. Now is not the time to add chicken to the list of imported products from China.  Will you sign a petition saying, "No thanks," to Chinese chicken?

Given China's poor safety standards and lax enforcement policies, adding China to the list of meat exporters is not in the public interest.  The incidence of avian flu is another reason to be cautious about accepting processed chicken from China.

However, the most compelling reasons have come from on-site inspections in China that have been conducted by U.S. inspectors.  Here's what they found:

•  filthy and unsanitary conditions in the facilities;
•  defective equipment;
•  improper employee hygiene;
•  lack of pre-shipment review procedures;
•  and the lack of microbial testing for Salmonella and generic E. coli;

These sorts of violations create serious food safety problems.  Now is definitely not the time to allow processed chicken from China.  American consumers want a safe food supply, so until China fixes its broken system, it's a good precaution to not allow poultry from China.

Sign the petition to Congress, saying, "No thanks," to Chinese chicken.
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/t/5915/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1216

Coca-cola to phase out controversial chemical linked to hyperactivity and gene damage
Colin Fernandez
UK Daily Mail
Monday, May 26, 2008

Soft drink giant Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to hyperactivity and causing damage to DNA.

The chemical Sodium Benzoate, also known as E211, is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy. But recent research has shown that the chemical can deactivate parts of DNA, the genetic code in the cells of living creatures.

Coca-Cola said it was withdrawing the additive from Diet Coke in response to consumer demand for more natural products. The move will mean that by the end of the year no can will contain E211 - and it plans to remove it from its other products as soon as possible. But the company said at present it had not found a satisfactory alternative to replace the additive in some soft drinks with a higher juice content including Fanta and Dr Pepper. Other fizzy drinks made by rival companies, such as Irn-Bru, Pepsi Max and Lucozade will continue to contain the additive.

While the chemical occurs naturally in some fruits, such as prunes, apples and cranberries, it is used in much greater strengths by the soft drinks industry.

Peter Piper, a professor of molecular biology research at Sheffield University found that the additive could switch off vital parts of DNA that could be linked to cirrhosis of the liver and Parkinson's disease. He has also called for further research into the chemical.

In combination with vitamin C (CORR) sodium benzoate can form a potentially cancer-causing substance, benzene.

Full article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1021809/Coca-cola-phase-controversial-chemical-linked-hyperactivity-gene-damage.html

 
 Where I live in Pennsylvania, the bats living near my home have virtually disappeared! There used to be hundreds of them, now only a few are seen coming out of their habitat at night.

 These articles have me wondering if there is a connection to GMOs like they found with Morgellon's Disease. From my post... http://itchmoforums.com/off-topic/cdc-requests-bay-area-morgellons-study-fibers-filaments-emerge-from-skin-t2171.0.html;msg64262#msg64262
"Shocking news: BioTech's New Plague
When fibers from Morgellon's Disease lesions from numerous patients were analyzed by competent scientists, they were found to contain DNA from BOTH a fungus and a bacterium used in the production of commercial Genetically Modified plants and animals including GM cotton!"

"In the Philippines, thirty-nine people living next to a field of GM corn developed skin, respiratory, and intestinal reactions while corn was pollinating."...
http://aromatherapy4u.wordpress.com/2007/11/03/how-is-genetically-modified-gm-food-affecting-your-health-food-safety-and-corruption/


Bats fall prey to mysterious killer
Tuesday, 13 May 2008
by John Pickrell and Claire Thomas
Cosmos Online

SYDNEY: Thousands of hibernating bats in the U.S. have been found dead or dying due to an unknown disease. Experts have noted similarities to the colony collapse disorder, which has ripped through North American bee populations.

Since March 2008, the bat malady has spread to afflict colonies in at least 25 caves and mines across the north-eastern states, says the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The agency has issued a call for wildlife workers to keep a careful watch for 'white-nose syndrome' as the killer has been dubbed.

"Major and imminent threat"

"Hibernating bats are dying by the tens of thousands in the north-eastern United States and a growing circle of top scientists is anxiously trying to figure out why," said a statement from Bat Conservation International (BCI) a NGO based in Austin, Texas.

"The syndrome clearly is a major and imminent threat to North American bats, and until the cause is identified, we can do little to counter it," the conservation group said.

Most of the affected bats are found with a mysterious white substance on the nose and in patches over their bodies.

However, experts say that the white substance may not be the cause of the disease, but a symptom. Some believe it is an overgrowth of a normal skin fungus indicating poor health. Sick bats have been emaciated and dehydrated, and some showed an unusual pathology of the lungs never seen before.

"Anyone finding sick or dead bats should avoid handling them and should contact their state wildlife conservation agency," said USGS disease specialist Kimberli Miller at the National Wildlife Health Centre in Madison, Wisconsin. That centre has already examined over 100 dead bats from as far as New York, Connecticut, Vermont and Massachusetts.

The syndrome has been seen in species including the little brown (Myotis lucifugus), big brown (Eptesicus fuscus), northern long-eared (Nyctophilus arnhemensis) and eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus) bats.

It is now a race against time for scientists to find the cause of the sickness and attempt to halt its progress.

Several suspects

BCI said that the main suspects are: an unknown viral, bacterial or fungal pathogen; the effect of climate change on food supply or hibernation; or an environmental pollutan (such as a pesticide) which has impaired the bats' ability to build fat reserves for the winter.

At present, scientists can't be sure whether the disease is just transmitted between bats or if humans are helping the spread.

Wildlife biologist Al Hicks of New York's State Department of Environmental Conservation is heading up the scientific effort to find the culprit. He says that the first cases were reported in Albany, New York, over a year ago and this year has rapidly spread over a wide area – potentially supporting the idea that a disease is behind the deaths.

Carole Copeyon of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pennsylvania Field Office noted an uncanny similarity in the epidemiology of the disease to the deadly bee disease colony collapse disorder (CCD), which has swept across the U.S. since 2004. In both bats and bees, sick animals were found to leave their colonies during winter, she said, which is highly unusual.

Maladaptive behaviour

"There may be no association with what we are seeing in bats … but some of the similarities including the timing of the bee and bat colony collapses and the incidences of highly unusual, maladaptive behaviour raise questions," said Copeyon in an email.

Whatever the cause, bat numbers are dropping fast, with losses of around 90 per cent reported in some colonies. This is of major concern in species where the female only produces one pup a year, said a statement from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The loss of bats from the ecosystem could also cause an ecological upheaval, since the mammals each eat many thousands of flying insects in the summer.

BCI has arranged an academic meeting in June for scientists to compare notes and identify the most important avenues for investigation.

More information with map...
The White-Nose Syndrome Mystery: Something Is Killing Our Bats
ens of thousands of hibernating bats died this winter in the northeast, and we don't know why. In and around caves and mines in eastern and upstate New York, Vermont, western Massachusetts, and northwestern Connecticut, biologists found sick, dying and dead bats in unprecedented numbers. In just eight of the affected New York caves, mortality appears to range from 80 percent to 100 percent since WNS was first documented at each site, based on winter surveys...
READ MORE: http://www.fws.gov/northeast/white_nose.html

 I am definitely going to switch to their GMO free soy sauce. One more thing I like about this company is that they are family owned. They didn't sell out to the big corporations, like so many other organic companies have. Also, Eden believes in local first whenever it makes sense, and most ingredients are grown from a few miles to a few hundred miles of Eden's Michigan headquarters.

I found this on their site...

13 February 1993

Dear EDEN Patron,

The trend to commercialize genetically engineered food compels Eden Foods to assure you that we will not support or participate in this movement away from natural foods as they are manifest by Nature.

Please let this letter serve as our affidavit and your assurance that Eden Foods will not purchase or sell any food or food ingredient known to be genetically engineered, and that we will act to best ensure our avoidance of such.

You can depend upon Eden Foods to be diligent in avoiding any aspect of the commercialization of genetically engineered food. We object to the introduction of these foods for human consumption in any manner, for any reason. We are fundamentally opposed to these foods for moral, ethical, and practical reasons.

With more than twenty-four years in the natural foods industry, I remain unaware of any other food company that spends a greater percentage of its time or money to be certain of the growing, ingredients, and processing used for foods carrying its brand name.

Very truly yours,
Michael J. Potter
Chairman and President

Read more about their GEO free assurance and how they do it...
http://www.edenfoods.com/about/geofree.php

They really deserves our support.

I called Eden Organic Foods after learning that the US allows a shocking 10% contamination in certified organic foods. I was told that the president of the company is adamant about producing products that are completely free from GMOs. They do ongoing GMO testing at their plant to ensure this. This is good news, because they have great products! Now there is a least one company you can count on. Here is their web site...
http://www.edenfoods.com/about/
If you want to order anything off their site, put in the coupon code "OCA" at checkout to receive 15% OFF any regular priced items (excluding cases). I found this offer on the Organic Consumers Association web site (http://www.organicconsumers.org).

I just received this email from the Natural Solutions Foundation...


My God! What Have We Done?
GMO ? Genetically Modified Organisms and Health Freedom
By: Dr. Rima E. Laibow, MD, Trustee
Natural Solutions Foundation ?http://www.healthfreedomusa.org

Think a moment about what we are doing to ourselves and this planet.

Have you heard of the nightmare condition called Morgellon's Disease? http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=599
Victims experience unbearable sensations ? all the time, day and night ? of insects crawling under their skin, burning and itching so terrible that people have committed suicide to end the torture. To make matters worse, much, much worse, these unfortunate people, who range in age from babies to the elderly, have open lesions on their skin that produces sharp, thin red, black, blue and white fibers and black sand-like grains. The fibers appear to move as if alive and, incredibly, when placed in a Petri dish after removal, continue to move and grow!

The origin of this horror has been unclear since it was first named in 2001 by the mother of a 3 year old baby whose symptoms she described and documented on a website. Since that time, thousands of people have been identified with this condition for which the only successful cure has been that most potent (and safe) of all antibiotics, nano silver. But the nature of the condition, and its cause, have remained a mystery until now.

Shocking news: BioTech's New Plague
When fibers from Morgellon's Disease lesions from numerous patients were analyzed by competent scientists, they were found to contain DNA from BOTH a fungus and a bacterium used in the production of commercial Genetically Modified plants and animals including GM cotton!

Merging organisms that have totally separate DNA and characteristics for the sake of profit, regardless of the health or other consequences, the line between animate and inanimate has been crossed. And we are all paying the price.

Like the fictional Dr. Frankenstein, who transformed the non-living into a living creature which escaped his control, the biotech industry has, we fear, created a real Frankenstein's Monster: Franken Foods which are bringing new plagues on us and on the earth. The future of our planet is literally and truly at stake. That is why the Natural Solutions Foundation has taken on the task of educating decision makers about GM threats.

That's Our Table!
Nine out of ten Americans already know that they do not want to eat GM foods but the FDA and other decision makers in the US and abroad do not necessarily get the message yet. After all, Big Biotech, like Big Pharma, has bought a seat at the Power Table ? in fact, some say they have bought the whole table. Well, we, the "netroots", the consumers, have a seat at the table, too ? in fact, it's our table! We want the food on it to be clean, wholesome and healthful. That's why we need your help to make sure this message is heard at every Codex meeting and in the halls of power around the world.

OH, Yes. GM food is cheap. It is grown under conditions that turn lush farms into monoculture (single crop) deserts. The very concept of integrated farming, where one plant or animal uses the waste of another and sustains the first one (or yet another) is meaningless in monoculture. Vast industrial techniques and huge government subsidies make GM food inexpensive and chemical additives keep the prepared and fast foods so easily available cheap, cheap, cheap.

Foods rich in GM ingredients and chemical substitutes for real flavors and components and are poor in nutrition. But when you pick up a box of this or that or drive through a fast food lane, you don't tend to count the cost of that cheap food: cancers, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, Morgellon's Disease, potentially lethal allergies, infertility, depressed immunity, auto immune disease, poor school performance, depression, anxiety, worry about a loved one's illness or your own, doctor bills, hospital bills, lost days at work or school, etc. The "food" may be cheap, but the price you pay for eating or serving it is enormous.

Click here http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=600 to read a summary of the health concerns associated with GM foods.

While the US is dedicated in its support of the deadly technology which produces "food" which then-President George H. W. [edited] declared ? without a shred of science to back him up ? to be identical to natural food, other countries are beginning to fear that they have made a terrible mistake in embracing GM technology. While the rest of the EU, for example, fears GM foods and ingredients, Romania, concerned about the damage to the environment and health, is considering ending its approval of GM food crops.

Click here http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=598 to read more. While the US approves GM sugar beets to provide you with GM sugar http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=585 later this year, the EU blocks approval of a GM potato http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=587 for this year's planting.

Australia, whose last Prime Minister could not wait to get as many GM crops into the ground as possible is seeing things a little differently now. Strong agitation is pressing the government there to delay approval of GM crops http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=587 until their safety has been tested and fairly evaluated.

When you go to a market that sells real, nourishing foods (perhaps your local farmers market) you do not hesitate to bear the extra cost of organic and wholesome foods. You know the hidden cost of cheap, factory-made Franken Foods is the health of your family.

Staples like taro in Hawaii, rice in Asia, soy and corn in the US have already been genetically modified. Papaya, peas, potatoes, pigs, they are all fair game for the GM boys (and girls). Never mind that species besides the crop which has been genetically modified are being contaminated ? for example, us, through Morgellon's Disease. Insects, arguably significantly smarter than we are, have already figured out how to resist the super plants and their loads of super pesticides, becoming resistant and passing their resistance on to the huge levels of pesticide many plants are engineered to produce. In South Africa the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) has published trial results that indicate stalk-borer larvae have developed the ability to survive the Bt poison contained in GM maize [corn] plants. Click here http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=580 to read more.

Freedom of Choice
But consumers who do not want to eat GM foods and do not want their word, or their bodies, contaminated by GM technology and its cataclysmic mistakes are on the march. In Hawaii, where taro is a staple food, consumers have gotten the State Legislature to consider a 10 year moratorium on GM taro. http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=584. It would be a good idea to make that march a quick step double time, too, because even the existence of clean food, certified organic, is threatened by the use of GM plants. That may be hard to imagine, but GM food spreads beyond its boundaries on wind and wheels and wings. The continued availability of components to make organic foods, which are grown without pesticides, artificial fertilizers, genetically modified components or other food-born toxins is in question. Widespread contamination of U.S. corn, soybeans and other crops by genetically engineered varieties is threatening the purity of organic and natural food products and driving purveyors of such specialty products to new efforts to protect their markets. Read more http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?p=588. This is particularly remarkable when you consider that although most countries allow a 0.9% contamination level of GM components in organic products, the US allows a shocking 10% contamination in certified organic foods. So if products which are 90% free of GM crops are increasingly hard to come by, what does that say about the urgency of the situation for those of us who do not want to undergo forced drugging by toxic components or Franken Foods?

Ready to Get Involved Yet?
I hope you are now good and steamed and looking for an outlet for your outrage (justified) at a system which actively prohibits labeling of GM foods because it (the FDA) knows that you will reject GM foods so they make it a crime to tell you if your foods are genetically modified.

Join the Natural Solutions Foundation Say NO! To GMO Forum and become part of a community ready for action.
To become a member of the forum, visit...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/no-genetically-modified-foods/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1

And, most importantly, get everyone you know to join as well. If ever netroots had a part to play in shaping policy, now is that time. And if ever the timeline before the tipping point into environmental disaster was close enough to take action without waiting any longer, now is that time, too.

We need to force the FDA to REQUIRE honest labeling of GM foods, not forbid it, to hold hearings on the safety (really, the lack thereof) of GM foods for the environment and for people, to make all corporate information submitted to the FDA about GM foods and non-food crops public, to find out what the USDA knows and does not know about the pharmaceutically modified crops it has lost control of, according to an internal audit of its Pharma modified crop test plantings, etc. And we need to do it quickly.

We need to get GM foods out of schools, hospitals, and off our tables, and we need to do it now!

GM is the problem, but WE, yes, we, including YOU are the answer.

Natural Solutions Foundation: We are more than just talk, and so are you!

Please join our Health Freedom eAlert email system, the largest in the world:
http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php?page_id=187

Alone we are each just ?voices in the wilderness? of cyberspace together we are growing powerful!

Animal Feed Safety System

FDA Public Meeting on Opportunity for Public Input on Standards for Pet Food and Other Animal Feeds

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing a public meeting to obtain input from stakeholder groups, including, but not limited to, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), veterinary medical associations, animal health organizations, and pet food manufacturers, on the development of standards for pet food, including ingredient standards and definitions, processing standards, and updated labeling standards.  Establishment by regulation of such standards for pet food was mandated by the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA).  FDA also would like to obtain input on whether the ingredient standards and definitions and processing standards should cover all animal feeds.  Additional information about the meeting may be found in the April 21, 2008 Federal Register http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/08-1155.htm.

The public meeting will be held on May 13, 2008, from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.

For more information go to: http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/petfoodstandards.htm

To ensure consideration of your comments regarding the development of standards for pet food and other animal feeds, you should submit comments by June 13, 2008.  While interested persons may comment orally at the public meeting, comments may also be submitted in writing or electronically in addition to, in lieu of, restating, expanding upon, or supplementing oral comments to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.  Submit electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov .  Submit a single copy of electronic comments on two paper copies of any mailed comments, except that individuals may submit one paper copy.

All comments are to be identified with the Docket No. FDA-2007-N-0442 (formerly Docket No. 2007N-0487).  Received comments may be seen in the Division of Dockets Management between 9 am and 4 pm, Monday through Friday.  You may also view received comments at http://www.regulations.gov/.

For general information contact, Tracey Forfa, Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Administration, 7519 Standish Place, Rockville, MD 20855, (240) 276-9000, Fax: (240) 276-9030, e-mail: Tracey.Forfa@fda.hhs.gov.