What Will HR 875 Mean To The Future Of Farming In America?
With the many recent news stories about deadly tainted food being shipped to the US from China, Americans have been understandably on edge about the safety of the food they buy. There is growing concern about the safety and cleanliness of food grown and produced here in this country. Although the FDA already works hard to regulate and ensure the safety of the products we consume, there are still many reasonable concerns.
With the rising industry in organic foods and farming, the nation’s food regulators are faced with a new challenge. These organic operations operate with a different set of procedures than traditional big agricultural companies, and they have different methods of pest control, processing, and packaging. Some people worry that these organic farmers may be at higher risk of accidently contaminating their products.
At the same time, there is mounting concern about the state of food safety in large agricultural and food processing facilities, and some are worried that rules and observation of the proper safety standards have become too lax. They worry that these large corporations may no have the health and safety of their customers as a top concern and therefore may overlook many risks.
Whatever side people come down on in the debate over this important bill, there is no doubt that all parties involved have the desire to see safer food on the market and the continued protection of the health of the American consumer. Whether this bill passes or not, the important work of stirring a national debate about food safety has already begun. This can only have a positive effect as the nation’s citizens take a more active role and involvement in ensuring that only the safest products get put on grocery store shelves.
Will HR 45 Be The Beginning OF The End For Private Firearms Ownership?
Gun violence on the streets of our cities continues to rise a little more each year. The nightly news seems to have a report on a school shooting, or gun rampage by a political fanatic almost every evening.
The idea that guns are rampant and easily available to any undesirable or unstable character running around with a grudge helps fuel a panic among the public about the sales of firearms. Many anti-violence groups are even calling for an outright ban on the sales of firearms all together. All a ban would though is the eliminate the ability of the law abiding citizen to protect his or her home and property and it would take away the constitutionally granted right of every American to keep and bear arms. Meanwhile those with violent and antisocial tendencies would continue to find methods for obtaining firearms on the black market while lawful Americans would be without a means of defense.
Many bills and gun control plans have been floated during this time of hysteria, but most are so restrictive of rights that they don’t stand a chance of being passed when they come up for a vote. HR 45 however was quietly introduced by Chicago Democrat Bobby Rush during a time when bigger issues overshadowed it and it has stealthily gained ground in congress despite the fears and objections of many gun owners.
If passed, this bill would clamp down on gun ownership and require every handgun or semiautomatic purchaser to undergo an extensive registration and screening procedure. These procedures would extend far beyond just criminal background checks. They would include the ability of the government to review all of potential gun buyers’ personal medical and psychological records and find anything that could preclude them from owning a gun. This includes one time visits even short term counselor or therapist.
This means a newly returned veteran who sought post war counseling would effectively be denied the right to own a gun whether they had serious mental health issues or not. The bill also requires applicants to sign sworn forms that they wont store the gun in any place where it could be used for home defense and could not store it loaded even in their own home.
Could Single-Payer Healthcare Rescue America, or Would It Be A Disaster?
The number of citizens in the United States without health insurance has risen to nearly 50 million in recent years. That number represents a significant percentage of the population and it rises sharply every year. Many of these without coverage are children and mothers who are some of our most vulnerable citizens.
Many commentators and activists feel that this condition is intolerable and that in a nation as prosperous as the one we live in, every citizen should be guaranteed the right to adequate and affordable health care.
They argue that almost every other nation in the industrialized world offers government subsidized health care to its citizens and remain profitable while doing so.
Those who seek to advance the cause of a single payer health care system in America charge that it is the only necessary solution to providing comprehensive care for everyone and that it would create better conditions in the area of doctor-patient conditions.
Those who are against a single payer system charge that single payer would only create new layers of bureaucracy and government regulation.
They also say it would raise taxes while giving nothing in return but an equally miserable state of affairs for all patients. They point to the distressed Medicaid system as an example of the impracticality of government run health care.