http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=7&id=125&Itemid=59
L to R: EU Common Foreign & Security Policy High Rep. Javier Solana, US President Barack Obama, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso & Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt- EU-US Summit, Washington, DC, November 3, 2009.

The April 2010 Farm Service Agency's FSA News includes this:

First Meeting of the Alaska Food Policy Council, May 18-18, Anchorage
"A diverse group of Alaskan interested in forming the Alaska Food Policy Council will convene in Anchorage on May 18. These stakeholders are all experts in their field and critical to building a viable food system in Alaska. The Council will work together over the next two years to develop comprehensive food solutions and strengthen our economy, our food security and our health. Mark Winne of the Community Food Security Coalition will be there to talk about his successful experience in other states and help Alaska kick off this collaborative effort. Please contact Diane Peck at 907.269.8477 or dianne.peck@alaska.gov for more info." {emphasis added}

One of my neighbors circled this press release and brought it by last month. I almost used it for fire starter. I had just gone through another rude awakening about people I meet on the internet because of my research. People expect me to be so much more than I am, and whenever I exchange more than a couple emails it has the potential to backfire. Now I see how badly it can go if I don't stay aloof until I know them better. If I respond to an emotional email with encouraging words, most people thank me and that's that. Others exchange a few more, and then they're gone. I meet some very interesting people and rarely, but sometimes, they become our friends. On the other extreme, some expect me to become their new best friend only because I understand their pain.

I used to feel totally responsible for the grief the ACL causes thinking people. I've carried around this stupid sense of duty for everything associated with writing about the Plan ,but it was my readers' sorrow that touched me the most. It's been awful knowing I'm feeding their pain, even though by the time most readers find my work they already have a good sense of how bad things are. It's almost impossible for me to ignore these emails, and sometimes I get a lot of them all at the same time, usually after I get published at rense or nwvs.

Nobody who knows me RL would accuse me of scurrying off, covering my own ass and hoping I find a way to escape the NWO. I really and truly believed that the only reason Americans still have their historical constitutions is because each and every one of us will fight to keep it for posterity. I learned very quickly in Seattle that is not what other people believe. But it still made me furious to read Etzioni chastising Americans for not doing our part in our communities.

Etzioni's organization thinks it's their job to teach me, you, and everyone else what responsible citizenship is. Etzioni is the NWO guru, his books teach our politicians how to force people into accepting the new theory of community. So how is it possible nobody in America is debating Etzioni besides me. So many now are speaking out for our nations' founding principles, the same ones Etzioni says are outdated and "dangerous." But very few Americans seem to want to attack the man behind the sustainable community builders. Etzioni's words become law, yet his name never comes up when people discuss the laws he writes for us. He's the Invisible Man.

I thought I had to be available to talk about communitarianism, that I had to keep pestering the universities and Etzioni for a public debate. I volunteered on several lawsuits and made 27 binders with over 2500 PDA, FOIA and agency documents. I donated time to property rights cases related to the 4th Amendment suit (Dawson) I worked on for 2 years before it was filed. I wrote a thesis disputing Etzioni. We built an enormous website with a 100 long pages filled with 10,000 good links. After all that, I thought I had to keep writing new articles and keep trying to explain the ACL information. I did radio, which I hated, and made my location more public than most sane people would. I have never hidden from my enemies. I've had visits from a criminal justice professor, a terrorist analyst for the Pentagon, and I was totally open to meeting anyone who wanted to meet me. I'm an old furry from the 80s, have been meeting people I met online in RL for over 20 years. I've met some real decent people, some who I consider friends even though we've never met RL. But the last couple years have taught me that I made myself too available to strangers who find me through my ACL work.

So anyway, because I had just spent all night dealing with an internet fiasco and was overtired and cranky, when my friend brought these publications, I told him I didn't care anymore about what happens to America under the Plan. He didn't deserve that kind of response from me. This man is one of the few people I know out here who read our books before we became friends. So our conversations naturally include various aspects of the Plans and how we're being manipulated into accepting them. I know he reads the blog sometimes too, he's very familiar with what I study, so I'd like to apologize for asking so rudely what he expected me to do with it, and thank him for his gracious response. After I reread it a week or so later, I knew I had to keep it handy for when my laptop got fixed, and filed it with my gertee plans. I needed time to research the unfamiliar terms and programs they mention before I posted it here.

What is a Food Policy Council?
Food Policy Councils (FPCs) bring together stakeholders from diverse food-related sectors to examine how the food system is operating and to develop recommendations on how to improve it. FPCs may take many forms, but are typically either commissioned by state or local government, or predominately a grassroots effort. Food policy councils have been successful at educating officials and the public, shaping public policy, improving coordination between existing programs, and starting new programs. Examples include mapping and publicizing local food resources; creating new transit routes to connect underserved areas with full-service grocery stores; persuading government agencies to purchase from local farmers; and organizing community gardens and farmers' markets.

While FPC's are not a new concept, their structures, practices, and policies are still evolving. Although the first Food Policy Council started 25 years ago in the city of Knoxville, only in the last decade have Food Policy Councils really gained momentum, and today there are almost 50 councils nationwide.

Currently no U.S. government entity has a Department of Food, so food-related issues are addressed by various agencies. This severely limits the potential for coordination, and for government to address broad goals such as improving access to healthy foods. Since they bring together a cross-disciplinary group of stakeholders, Food Policy Councils can help to bridge this gap and identify ways to address interconnected issues and improve the food system. {emphasis added} http://www.foodsecurity.org/FPC/

What's a Community Food Security Coalition?

August 1, 2009 - Strategic Road Map Approved

CFSC's strategic plan has been approved! This plan will guide our work over the next four years, based on eight strategic goals that include building political voice and power, increasing community-based capacity building, and improving membership engagement. Staff, board, members, and consultants worked hard over the past year to develop this plan, and many others provided input to the process.

'Action teams' fleshed out plans for each strategic goal this spring, and a complete draft plan was developed in early June. At a board-staff retreat in North Carolina, we reviewed this draft and made a few changes, most importantly adding a goal focused on social justice, inclusivity, and anti-racism. (Earlier the group had decided to integrate this goal throughout the plan rather than separating out, but we later agreed that making it a distinct goal would give it more emphasis.) We also drafted a new mission statement:

The Community Food Security Coalition catalyzes food systems that are healthy, sustainable, just, and democratic by building community voice and capacity for change.

The board formally approved the plan at the retreat, and staff and board identified priorities for implementation. CFSC is still completing the action plan details for the social justice goal and developing a communications strategy for the new plan, which will be shared with members soon. http://www.foodsecurity.org/

Is there already an Alaska Food Policy council? If there is, and it has a website, why wasn't that information included in the above FSA press release?

The Alaska Food Policy Council

At the ‘top’ or policy level tier of our Local Foods Campaign, ACE is working to implement policy that will strengthen Alaska’s food system.

As of 2010, ACE has teamed up with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Obesity Prevention and Control Program, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Farm Bureau, the Alaska Division of Agriculture, and AK Root Sellers to form the first Alaska FoodPolicy Council (FPC).

The long term goals of the Food Policy Council will be to identify barriers to building a viable Alaskan food system, create a strategic plan to address these barriers, and make the necessary recommendations to decision makers to implement this plan. Diverse stakeholders from around the state have been invited to participate, including representatives for commercial farmers, farmers’ markets and CSAs; fisheries and fish processors; distributors; institutional purchasers; private-sector businesses; legislators; consumers; Alaska Native tribal organizations; food

The first in-person meeting of the AK Food Policy Council is on May 18th and 19th in Anchorage. Over 60 stakeholders have been invited to participate. The meeting will begin with an all-Alaskan lunch catered by Rob Kineen of ORSO, a presentation on ‘What is a Food PolicyCouncil?’ with national expert Mark Winne, and a lay of the land Expert Panel presentation to discuss ‘Food Issues in Alaska’. For the next two days, the group will begin to take on the task of forming the FPC itself, including setting the overall direction and forming subcommittees to continue the work over the next several years. Ultimately, the FPC will create a strategic plan to address hurdles to building a strong food system, and advise decision makers on how to implement this plan.

There are already about 50 FPCs across the country, so as we grow we have many opportunities to learn from other groups. To learn more about FPCs, check out the Food Security Coalition website.

ACE envisions the establishment of this FPC as the first step toward a longer term goal of establishing a more permanent entity. During the second session of the 26th Alaska State Legislature, ACE had the opportunity to meet with a diverse group of legislators, all of whom received the idea to form the AK Food Policy Council with enthusiasm. Learn more about the potential for legislation supporting a stronger AK food system by checking out our proposal for an Alaska ‘Food, Farms, and Jobs’ Act.

Feel free to e-mail Alli with questions, or call 274-3662. Please check back to this website for updates on the work of the Food Policy Council.
http://akcenter.org/sustainable-communities/local-food/policy

Identify the barriers? Do barriers include all the non-expert Americans who didn't vote to change their constitutional system for communitarian soviet rule?

Decisionmakers? Who makes the decisions in this country? Who advises the decisionmakers? The experts? 60 stakeholders? Is this an organized effort happening all over the nation? Absolutely. http://www.statefoodpolicy.org/?pageID=profiles

The communitarians are "building a better food system - strengthening food democracy." Sound good to you? How can the communitarians teach Alaskans to tie their new health related food COUNCILS to the economy and security too? http://sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/2010/03/30/%E2%80%A2-alaska-food-policy-council-created-to-examine-how-our-food-system-relates-to-our-economy-security-and-health/

Now.. the FSA report did not include an invitation. I do not know if there was a public notice in every newspaper in the state inviting the public to attend and contribute their expert opinions. But isn't it interesting how the Global Food Collaborative members were invited? They're a group who "facilitate business along the chain of food, beverage and agri-products." Their partners teach webinars on compliance with regulatory agencies and hiring for the industry. They "promote sustainable harvest practices and good environmental stewardship."

Alaska Food Policy Group Organizes

• 4-6-2010
• Categorized in: Agency and Organizational News

Alaska Food Policy Council

May 18, 12pm to 5pm and May 19, 8am to 12pm Anchorage, Alaska

Attention Alaska Residents

You are invited to participate in a diverse group of Alaskans interested in forming the Alaska Food Policy Council.

We would like your help in examining how our food system relates to our economy, our security, and our health. The Alaska Food Policy Council will provide an opportunity to connect the wide variety of food system stakeholders and begin to develop comprehensive solutions toward building a stronger Alaskan food system.

The first face-to-face meeting will be held May 18 & 19 in Anchorage with Mark Winne of the Community Food Security Coalition (http://foodsecuirty.org/) facilitating. Our goal will be to learn about Food Policy Councils, consult with experts such as yourself to establish the lay of the land in Alaska, and to begin to set the direction our Food Policy Council will take.

Seating is limited! For more information or to RSVP, please contact Diane Peck at 907-269-8447.

http://www.globalfoodcollaborative.com/news/2010/04/06/alaska-food-policy-group-organizes-.html

It's not clear why they call themselves a global collaborative, it appears to be all Alaskan businesses or organizations, except for the training companies. And the site is a pretty good resource for Alaskan products, it's hard not to notice the ads for locally produced fish so I want to like these people! But I can't, can I? Their website administrator's last post is a case for a Harmonization Czar, "I love the word harmonization. Don't you? It sounds so peaceful and comprehensive of a full and complete solution..... The Harmonization Czar must be at the top of the organizational structure and have the ability to influence change. They must be able to see themselves as an advocate for small and medium-sized business and work across all agengies. " http://www.globalfoodcollaborative.com/blogs/we-need-a-harmonization-czar.html

At the international level we can find more about the experts on food security councils a little higher up the food chain. At the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council the first listed member is Bernard Auxenfans, "He began his career at Monsanto in 1969 as a sales representative in France." The next one is a "director of Embryo Technologies Ltd." Another was "was the president of EuronAid, a European operational NGO network, specialized in the field of food aid and food security. Bukman also served as special advisor to the director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the World Food Conference in 1995." It's a very long list of farmers and goat herders. http://www.agritrade.org/about/member_bios.html

So where do Food Policy Councils fit into the international communitarian system? We need only look to the model for all emerging regional trade unions, the European Parliament: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/envi/default_en.htm

The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee of the sixth legislature has 68 Members, drawn from the political groups in the proportions indicated in the table below. It is served by a secretariat of 10 administrators.

The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee
European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats	24
Socialist Group in the European Parliament	17
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe	10
Greens/Free European Alliance	6
European United Left / Nordic Green Left	4
Independence / Democracy Group	3
Union for Europe of the Nations Group	3
Non-attached	1

Its competences have been changed only slightly from those of the fifth legislature. Horizontal consumers policy issues are now the responsibility of the Internal Market Committee and the Environment Committee has a explicit reference in its title to its responsibility to food safety issues.

Its most close Commission interlocutors are: DG Environment and DG Health and Consumer Protection as well as DG Entreprise for pharmaceuticals and certain other matters.

The Committee has oversight and political responsibility for the activities of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). It has established a multilayered network of political links in the three areas of its competences and has regular contacts with other European institutions and international organisations. Links with national parliaments' environment, public health and consumer protection committees, and with specialised national agencies have developed.

Gee, isn't it amazing that in the USA there are groups with the exact same goals and objectives of the EU? Isn't it even more amazing that we're establishing the exact same specialised national agencies as the EU? Kind of a miracle that all these grassroots groups spontaneously erupted all over the world at the same time, isn't it. Isn't it kind of too amazing, period? Should the UK, even though they have not adopted EU law, have an EU style Food Policy Council?

Should the USA model policy on the EU?

EU Embassies' Open House, Sat., May 8, 10 am-4 pm, Washington, DC; Europe Week, May 9-16 across US

Join the European Union Embassies in Washington, DC, on May 8 for a day of family fun, food and culture. Free shuttle buses with two routes will drop visitors off at various Embassies. This year the EU is highlighting the theme GREEN EUROPE: GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY AND THE ENVIRONMENT. We want to show, through our own experience, that it is possible to tackle climate change, grow a clean energy economy of the future and become world leaders in reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% by 2020. Our policies have improved EU energy security and have created new green jobs while fulfilling our social and environmental responsibility.

So what does the EU have to do with the United Nations? Does the UN really have a plan to intervene in the domestic affairs of citizens in these united states?

EU High Representative Ashton Addresses UN Security Council

EU Foreign Affairs & Security Policy High Rep. Catherine Ashton told the UN Security Council on May 4: "First that the EU is strongly committed to an active partnership with the UN: promoting peace, protecting the vulnerable and helping people to live in safety and dignity.
"Second, that this partnership has grown rapidly in recent years and has demonstrated its added value on the ground. There is a good deal we have achieved together. But there is even more work to be done.
"And third, that with the Lisbon Treaty's the EU's potential will increase. We should become more capable; better able to bring politics and economics together. And better at combining different forms of intervention within a political strategy. As a result, I hope we shall be a stronger partner for the UN."

And again, what does American Food Policy have to do with the EU? http://www.eurunion.org/eu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3530&Itemid=59

Statement on Development Dialogue and Cooperation
The European Union and the United States have agreed to reinvigorate our development dialogue and cooperation in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of our development assistance. In the face of growing challenges to efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), sustainable economic growth and poverty eradication, it is more important than ever for the EU and the U.S., the leading providers of development assistance, to work together on some of the world’s most pressing development issues.

We have therefore agreed to re-launch the High Level Consultative Group on Development and to hold annual meetings at ministerial level to advance and guide our cooperation at policy level as well as the achievement of results in the field. The High Level Consultative Group will convene as soon as possible following the Summit to identify and agree outputs under each of the three initial priority topics.

We want to intensify our development policy dialogue and increase cooperation in practical ways to achieve lasting results. In order to improve aid effectiveness, we will accelerate implementation of our commitments under the Paris Declaration and Accra Agenda for Action, with a strong focus on in-country implementation. We will focus our initial cooperative efforts on three common priorities: food security and agricultural development, climate change and the Millennium Development Goals.

• Food Security & Agricultural Development: The initial focus of our joint efforts will be to improve global food security and revitalize agricultural development, with an initial focus on Africa. We will agree on a coordinated approach to identify and resource credible, country-owned food security plans through sustained commitments that advance the L’Aquila principles. In line with the Joint Statement on Food Security made by more than 25 countries and organisations at the July 2009 G-8 Summit in L’Aquila and the proposal from the UN Secretary-General and U.S. Secretary of State Clinton on 26 September in New York, and recognizing the importance of national, regional and global partnerships to advance the food security agenda, we agree to join our efforts and expertise in a Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition (GPAFSN). The immediate action is to organise key actors to work with host-country governments to support policy reforms, build public and private sector operational capacity, mobilize additional resources and align resources with country-based strategies. In the context of agricultural development in Africa, we will support country ownership in the framework of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP) and comparable consensus-building institutions. We will also work together to improve cooperation at regional and global levels in line with L’Aquila principles.

• Climate Change: We will work to promote enhanced cooperation at the country level in developing countries of mutual interest to ensure effective and efficient actions to combat climate change. We will concentrate our efforts on the development aspects of climate change with particular focus on adaptation through an enhanced exchange of information on adaptation experiences and identifying opportunities for joint work in priority areas such as capacity building, financing of urgent adaptation needs, building on National Adaptation Plans of Action and other country-driven adaptation strategies and supporting the strategic integration of climate resilience in development policies. Furthermore, we will work together to assist developing countries to develop and implement effective low-carbon strategies and take ambitious actions to mitigate the effects of climate change, taking into account outcomes from the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen.

• Millennium Development Goals: Over the past nine years significant strides have been made towards most of the MDGs, especially the poverty goal, although progress has been uneven and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is lagging behind. The economic and financial crisis is now not only threatening the achievement of the MDGs by 2015, but also risks undermining past progress. With only six years remaining before 2015, we recognize that a coordinated international effort is needed to assist developing countries accelerate progress towards the MDGs. Our initial focus will be to agree on a harmonised approach to the September 2010 UN High Level MDG Review. Alongside developing countries, we will focus our joint efforts on actions contributing to the achievement of the MDGs by 2015. On top of delivering on our official development assistance (ODA) commitments, we will concentrate on policy coherence for development and aid effectiveness as well as explore the potential of new innovative financing mechanisms, including new forms of voluntary contributions by citizens and corporations. {emphasis added}

What's the Millenium Goals?

1. End Poverty and Hunger http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml
2. Universal Education
3. Gender equality
4. Child Health
5. Maternal Health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS
7. Environmental Sustainability
8. Global Partnership

The UN wants us all to meet these goals by 2015. They want us to believe they can End Poverty.

About the Millennium Campaign

End poverty by 2015.This is the historic promise 189 world leaders made at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 when they agreed to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The United Nations Millennium Campaign supports and inspires people from around the world to take action in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Learn More

Is the Alaska Food Policy Council planning to force Alaskans to meet Millennium Goals? And if they are, how will that be accomplished? And wow, shouldn't I, as a very poor Alaskan, be happy about the fact that in five years I won't be poor? I'll have a sustainable job and my community will have enough food, jobs and security for all. So what if the rest of America won't have any liberty, autonomy or options but to comply and pay for my food... I'd have a real house with plumbing, heat, a propane stove and a full fridge too. No wonder people think I'm a fool.