The loss of consciousness, and the Laws of Consciousness.

[Vinodh Valluri]

Nearly four years of living in America, and not even a single cup of milk that is completely guiltless. Yes. From Arlington, TX, to Lexington, KY, it has been difficult for me to find compassion, purity, and love in milk. Petaluma, where I live, is a place of farms and fertile soil, cows and land - the original wealth of men. So, it was not a surprise when I found the best plain milk I had in the last four years of living in the US coming from Straus Family Creamery. Having noticed the creaminess, and extraordinarily good quality of the milk, I was inquisitive of the origin - the cows. Several questions: what do they eat, where do they live? Does Straus treat their cows with rBST hormones? How does Straus treat their cows? Turns out, Straus is doing some very good things, noticeably, their milk isn't homogenized. For more information, please look at their Organic Practices. Straus Milk is indeed very good compared to the otherwise demoniac mixture of chemicals that sells as 'milk' in the USA.

By the way, I am not paid by Straus to advertise on my blog; the point I am about to make will help you understand the reason for the links provided. Moving to California made a difference, I thought, until last week. After all, the state is famed as the Greenest in the USA - could it really get any better? Can the greenest state in this world be compassionate? So, I wrote to Straus and asked them about their cow protection efforts. Turns out that even one of the best milk-providers in the country is unable to justify protecting the life of their economic source - the cows. The "system" has been hardwired to force them to sell their cows once they stop producing enough milk. The 'system' want them to provide meat, to kill or facilitate killing, to obviate compassion, to waste resources, to create inequity. Why aren't they concerned about the safety of American citizens - wait, aren't animals accounted into nationality? Only humans matter, the ones who can pay money matter more, and the ones who can pay more money matter even more.. What a sad state of affairs in the so called 'developed' world! Most cows in the the US are not as lucky as the ones at Straus, but even those at Straus get sent off to be murdered, if at a slightly older age than others. In the words of my source: My additions italicized.

"They [the cows, of course] are sold to a local auction yard where they are purchased by a third party [party is a fun word, eh..] Though we don't know who buys them, the chances are that they are bought for beef by a small, local processing facility [this used to be called a slaughterhouse in the pre-euphemistic world]."

Touching back on the point of human milk, it has now become a chemical cocktail, thanks to meat eating, industrial agriculture, and of course, rampant use of artificial products and processes. An essential act, almost sacred in some cultures - breast-feeding a new born baby - is now dangerous and unsafe. How far have we come from nature, and from humanity? You thought that was the bad news, check this out: "Scientists develop genetically modified cow to produce human like .... Wait, excuse me, what was that, again? So, we have already successfully messed up what used to be an innocent natural interaction - the milking of cows, and now we go on, beyond the manipulation of cows' milk into a toxic concoction of r-BST, GM soy-extracts, starches, and God knows what else, and onto genetically modifying the cow to produce human-like milk.  Is this what bachelors, masters and doctoral education goes into? Is this what millions of research and tax dollars are flowing into? As one reader rightly commented, " So, they're going to market this to mothers who care enough about their kid's health to want something better than formula [God forbid, its made in China, and may contain Lead or Melamine, or worse], but who won't care that it comes from a genetically modified cow? I maybe wrong, but that seems like a tiny margin of customers". Does anyone notice how far the line has been crossed? They have gone so far from the line, now the line is a point to the scientists - the point is profits.

H.H. Shugart notes of humans who breast fed their domestic animals in remote cultures - an extreme practice, but very exemplary of the kind of compassion a human being could show towards Nature, and fellow beings. The other extreme is Monsanto, If you are, like me, sick of this ignorance that sells as education as West, evident as apathy all over the world, please do something to stop the spread of this malignant disease called "scientific prowess licking the boots of corrupt, powerful corporates". If you really care about the things in your world, do something about them. Each one of us can do what we can best do. If you are an Indian citizen, please sign the following petition and forward it to your friends: Use your rights to stop the wrongs. If you are an American citizen, God bless you, and hoping that you will stand up to help Obama and the nation realize the meaning of "Yes, We Can."

[Vinodh Valluri]

In the last line, I mean to say, 'realize' as in the phrase "realizing profits", i.e., to make real, not to mean understand or comprehend.