Putting insignifigant pieces in to a larger signifigant picture

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Whether intentional or by happenstance, the trend towards nore centralization and overbearing control cannot be denied any more by all but the most devoted government boot polishers and kissers. A typical response from these types or from people who are simply still not putting the larger picture together or seeing it as signifigant, is that each little piece is to be looked at quickly and if not attention grabbing in the first few lines, to be discarded as "no big deal". The real problem is when we do this habitualy and begin doing it with every piece. We miss and ignore the bigger picture and ignore it's signifigance. To illustrate this, I will use H.R. 875, the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. Initiated and sponsored by a democrat. The bill in itself is bad enough. lot of people, especialy in rural areas, which make up the majority of the country, were counting on being able to grow and sell produce and other things, at farmers markets to make ends meet and also in turn, provide a source for inexpensive, localy produced non processed food for other people in tough economic times. But goes further. The use of "interstate commerce" is what they are claiming to assert this authority. They cite that "the assumption of interstate commerce is made", meaning, they assume all food produced has the potential to be sold over state lines and therefore all can be considered interstate commerce and is therefore considered in a convoluded, extrapolated way, constitutional. This was a major sticking point and they found a loophole around the 10th amendment by using this twisting of terms and impimenting auumption. That in itself disturbes me. Instead of looking at the bill, then looking at the constitution and saying "nope, can't do it, it's wrong", they look at it and say, "hmmm,we really want this law, but we know it's wrong, hmm...hey lets dig for a loophole". And if that wasn't bad enough. Rosa DeLauro, one of the cosponsors, her husband is Stanley Greenberg, the Chairman and CEO of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. Greenberg "provides strategic advice and research for companies, organizations and campaigns trying to advance their issues amid shifting social currents." And one of his big clients? Monsanto, a company that would benifit greatly by reduced competion from small farms and the sudden availability of farming land from farmers who could no longer afford to farm. The reduction in the availablity of "heirloom seeds", that is seeds that will gorow plants capable of producing more growable seeds. More and more seeds these days sold by big corperations like Mosanto and Cargil, are geneticly modified and patented, modified to turn off the reproduction gene that allows it to produce seeds that will sprout and grow. You can think of it almost like pirate and copy protection used in software. Now, in one bill, we have, decreased the ability of people to be self sufficiant and more dependant on a government and the corperations they are in bed with and increased the authority of that same government. One bill. So lets look back a few months. The Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act. initiated and sponsored by a republican. This is very similar to the Food Safety Modernization Act but it applies to homemade toys, crafts, clothing and other hand made products, including things in craft fairs, and other such small venues. The act, thoug regulating lead content, also has very strict and expensive requirements on 3rd party testing of items, product labling and such, and yes, it expands to even craft fair items, thrift shops and such, it is very broad legislation. Again, there were a lot of people looking this year to begin doing thse things to try and make ends meet and in turn provide low cost alternative local products to the community.And how many of us shop thrift shops when times are hard or we just want to save a few bucks? A number of amendments have been since proposed to trya nd narrow the legislation, but none of the amendments have cosponsors. And like many bills, we have a shell game going on, the buill number changes, text changes, cosponsors change and it gets pretty tricky to keep track of. so, are you still standing there with your nose against the picture admiring the flower patch in the corner of it or have you stepped back yet to see that pretty little detail is only one corner of a large mural?