Thursday, August 18, 2011
Oppose New Dietary Supplement ‘Labeling’ Legislation
On Friday, July 1, when most were focusing on a congressional break and a holiday celebration, Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) officially introduced a bill that would have an impact on dietary supplements for both manufacturers and users. The Dietary Supplement Labeling Act of 2011, S. 1310, would clarify “conventional foods” and place the FDA in the role of defining which products are foods, and which are health aids and therefore subject to regulation as dietary supplements for FDA policing.
According to Drug Store News the legislation would require supplement manufacturers to register dietary supplement products with the FDA and “provide a description of each dietary supplement, a list of ingredients and a copy of the label. Additionally, the new law would require product labels to include warnings associated with adverse events of specific ingredients, weight of those ingredients per serving and a batch number for easier recall.” The bill goes further, requiring updated registration when making a new product not registered previously, when a registered product is reformulated, or when it discontinues making a registered product. These bureaucratic regulations will greatly increase the cost of bringing supplements to market, and easily chase many small manufacturers out of business.
Durbin says he’s only concerned that some products contain “potentially dangerous ingredients” which haven’t been FDA approved. “My gripe is with products labeled as ‘dietary supplements’ whose ingredients have not been deemed safe by the FDA but are found on store shelves right next to conventional food and beverages. The current system favors the manufacturers of these products to the detriment of consumers – and that needs to change,” related Durbin on his webpage. “Detriment” wasn’t documented or defined, though. He added, “These products market themselves as dietary supplements that are safe ways to relax or get a boost of energy, when in reality they are foods and beverages taking advantage of the more relaxed safety standards for dietary supplements. My bill would help curb this unsafe practice.”
The net that Durbin casts with S. 1310 is very large and would indeed snare not only energy drinks, but dietary supplements be they in the form of vitamins, herbs, minerals, extracts, formula blends, etc, and used alone or added to food products. In May Durbin objected to, and alerted the FDA to, baked goods that contained melatonin, a naturally occurring compound that synchronizes the circadian rhythms of certain biological functions. (Many folks take melatonin supplements to counter sleeplessness at night thereby avoiding FDA-approved habit-forming narcotics.)
Durbin incorrectly presupposes that nothing is safe unless government approves it. He conveniently ignores the fact that consumers are not forced to purchase or ingest these products; it is their choice to do so. Therefore it is the consumer who must regulate personal purchases and uses, not big government, the legislative branch, or some bureaucratic agency. Durbin’s big brother interference in the supplement market is another example of overregulation and destruction of individual choice whether it be for baked goods, or for supplements that treat the common cold. It’s quite hypocritical of Durbin to continue overlooking all the hundreds of unsafe and damaging drugs that have had devastating consequences and even caused death that the FDA has approved.
Contact your Representative and Senators urging them not to cosponsor, support, or vote for such a power-grabbing bill. Let them know Americans want unrestricted access to nutritional supplements produced by manufacturers whose focus is their product -- not multiple government registration and labeling forms. Help keep the government out of our health aid and food choices.
Thanks,
Your friends at The John Birch Society
'I created Obama's certification of birth'
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When the White House posted online an image of President Obama's purported long-form birth certificate, it also linked to the previously circulated "Certification of Live Birth," the short-form version that had been presented as the only birth documentation available.
However, the short-form certificate to which the White House linked April 27 was a forgery, claims research expert Ron Polland, Ph.D., who says he made the image himself.
"I made the birth certificate image that was given to the media at the White House press conference held on April 27, 2011," Polland told WND.
"The White House said the black-and-white image is a copy of Obama's 2007 [Certification of Live Birth], but it's not. It is the forgery I created, and I can prove that is the case," he declared.
Polland said he created the image to bolster his contention that the short-form Certification of Live Birth circulated by the Obama presidential campaign was a forgery.
"You have to be able to show how an electronic document was created in order to prove it is a forgery," he explained. "I wanted to prove the [short-form certificate] was a forgery, and I wanted to show how it can be done."
Then how did the White House end up presenting the forgery as authentic?
Polland contends that all of the short-form "versions in circulation on the Internet are forgeries."
"Probably the White House just picked my forgery off Snopes.com, thinking it was the real thing," he said.
Polland said he realized various Obama supporting groups, including Snopes.com, had posted his forgery as the authentic Obama document, but he decided to say nothing until he felt the time was right.
"I didn't say anything until the White House published my forged Obama birth certificate as the real thing," he said. "Then I decided it was time to speak up. Once the White House posted the forgery, I knew I could expose both the president and a supposedly independent, fact-checking website like Snopes.com as being caught promoting a fake document as the real thing."
Polland walked WND through step-by-step documentation to show that the White House linked to his creation, not a document issued by the state of Hawaii.
The White House website documenting the April 27 press conference states:
In 2008, in response to media inquiries, the president's campaign requested his birth certificate from the state of Hawaii. The state sent the campaign the president's birth certificate, the same legal documentation provided to all Hawaiians as proof of birth in state, and the campaign immediately posted it on the Internet. That birth certificate can be seen here (PDF).Clicking that link, as seen in Exhibit 1, leads to a black and white image on the White House website:
Gunwalker: President Obama’s Un-Plausible Deniability & Administration Kills Americans – MSM Doesn’t Care
I first ran into the concept of plausible deniability during my freshman year of college. A definition:
The term most often refers to the denial of blame in (formal or informal) chains of command, where upper rungs quarantine the blame to the lower rungs, and the lower rungs are often inaccessible, meaning confirming responsibility for the action is nearly impossible. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such act or any connection to the agents used to carry out such acts.
I was reading Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger at the time, a novel that hinged on a fictional president deciding to change the war on drugs by descending into illegal covert activity.
Twenty-two years later, we are contemplating whether a sitting and all-too-real American president can claim plausible deniability for Operation Fast and Furious, Operation Castaway, and two unnamed but alleged operations in Texas that make up the Gunwalker scandal, which threatens to bring down the administration of Barack Obama.
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Administration Kills Americans – MSM Doesn’t Care
MOREThe lack of main stream news coverage on the Fast and Furious debacle, that left at least one American dead, has been frightening. Often called President Obama’s Watergate, Fast and Furious’ misguided premise put guns in the hands of violent criminals, cost millions of dollars, killed Border Agent Brian Terry and – if ever investigated – may expose barbaric corruption at the Department of Justice, and the White House.
As Pajamas Media has been reporting in a near exclusive fashion for over three months, the Department of Justice, which includes ATF (Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) engaged in Operation Fast and Furious (also known as “GunWalker”) as a strategy to combat gun trafficking on the Southern Border. From the 2009 Congressional Report:
In the fall of 2009, the Department of Justice (DOJ) developed a risky new strategy to combat gun trafficking along the Southwest Border.…The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) implemented that strategy using a reckless investigative technique that street agents call “gunwalking.” ATF’s Phoenix Field Division began allowing suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns.
This shift in strategy was known and authorized at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Through both the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona and “Main Justice,” headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Department closely monitored and supervised the activities of the ATF.
It has become increasingly obvious that the Justice Department, meaning Attorney General Eric Holder, and the White House, meaning President Barack Obama, were aware – in part or in full – about the plan. As others have mentioned, a second intention of this plan was to perpetuate the myth that American guns are flowing into Mexico, thus creating the violence on the border between the two countries. The idea being that Operation Fast and Furious could be used as a vehicle to institute greater gun control; which is to push forward the Progressive ideal of eliminating 2nd Amendment rights.
National Police Misconduct NewsFeed Daily Recap 08-17-11
VERBATIM POST
Injustice Everywhere
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- At least 8 Chicago IL police officers are under investigation after they allegedly jumped a liquor store owner when they mistook him for a burglar, let them go without charges, then attacked him and his brother on video when his brother told them he was going to file a complaint and that the incident was caught on video. [3] bit.ly/qaSFQ2
- New York NY (Bronx) cop sentenced to probation for beating a pedestrian in the face with a baton after he hit him with his cruiser in an on-duty road rage incident [0] bit.ly/nEUcgA
- Houston TX cop who is also facing another lawsuit has been suspended 20 days for clubbing an ex-NBA star in the back of the head with a nightstick at a store but, despite suspending him for it, the city still insists he did nothing wrong, since he’s facing a lawsuit. [1] bit.ly/prh6KF
- A Fullerton CA police officer who is also involved in the brutal death of Kelly Thomas is now a part of a lawsuit over an earlier incident where he attacked a man videotaping the violent arrest of his friend. [5] bit.ly/p4QKiZ Interestingly, the city’s defense is that the officers did tackle, arrest, and aggressively tried to convict him, but claim it was a mistake because they really thought he was someone that they claim jumped on an officer’s back… which appears to be an attempt to get the suit tossed through qualified immunity. lat.ms/rkrcCX
- Russell Co AL sheriff’s detective pled guilty to assaulting cuffed man in custody. Another deputy is still facing trial [0] 1.usa.gov/rsvdJo
- US DHS sued by ACLU & others for policy allowing immigration detainees to be shackled 12hrs a day when at court [0] bit.ly/oZbdHz
- Wheeler WI police chief pleads insanity to 14 felony sex charges for allegedly showing porn to 2 teen boys he arrested for breaking into a church then molesting them. This is a strange one because I can’t recall recorded a report yet in the 2+ years we’ve been operating where an officer pled insanity to any charge. [0] bit.ly/rps2aM
- Long Beach CA police youth services detective sentenced to 2yrs for his sexual relationship with a 15yr-old female relative [0] bit.ly/qZYRed
- St Ann MO reserve cop fired after admitting to sexually abusing female detainee he was guarding, a grand jury is still determining what charges he’ll face. [0] bit.ly/nL5bIh
- Worth Co MO sheriff pleads guilty to violating the civil rights of 8 women that he forced to expose themselves under color of law then photographed them. [0] bit.ly/o11txT
- Glendale AZ cop resigned in Apr over allegations he molested & sent sexual txts to underage girls at a high school he worked at while off duty. County prosecutors are, months later, still trying to figure out if they want to charge him or not. [1] bit.ly/pUnxvf
- Houston TX cop suspended while investigated for allegedly molesting a cuffed detainee then sending her explicit pics and text messages. [1] bit.ly/p9igAy
- Philadelphia PA cop to face charges for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in his cruiser after offering her a ride at a bus stop. [1] bit.ly/r8k0SN
- Westville NJ police sued by woman alleging she was ordered to urinate on a holding cell floor in front of others [3] bit.ly/pw9dWj
- 36 New York NY cops alleged to be subject of internal probes into perjury allegations including false arrests [2] bit.ly/oH6y2E
- New York NY police detective arrested for allegedly using police equipment to rob cigarette smugglers in fake raid [0] nyp.st/q7qYM6
- Niagara Regional ON police rebuked by judge staying case in largest Niagara pot bust over alleged police misconduct [2] bit.ly/r7G88P
- Bernalillo Co NM deputy arrested on agg assault w/deadly weapon charge in alleged road rage incident outside school [0] bit.ly/nuK9TH
- Logan Co OH sheriff fires ex-Bellefontaine OH chief he hired after report found he lied during triple-murder case [0] http://t.co/whIbhcK
- Grant Co IN deputy arrested on 6 counts felony theft after probe into allegations he stole money from a company he co-owned. [0] bit.ly/ocf8lc
- Sneedville TN police chief sentenced to 4mo after pleading to charges for giving 14yr-old girl pot from evidence, I think there might have been more to it than this though. [0] bit.ly/oaghfo
- Albuquerque NM cop arrested on bribery charge for allegedly helping escort beat criminal charge in exchange for sex [0] bit.ly/oXL9E3
- Port Arthur TX cop resigns while under investigation for theft, allegedly wrote checks on a closed account [0] bit.ly/p5ZncQ
- 2 Cape Brenton NS regional constables charged w/obstruction and breach of public trust in unspecified incident [3] bit.ly/qucHUm
- University at Buffalo NY police officer cited for disorderly conduct at concert in unspecified incident [2] bit.ly/p9DBiI
- Chillicothe IL police chief suspended after arrested on drunk driving charges when stopped over trailer w/o lights [0] bit.ly/owcVqK
- US Secret Service agent arrested on drunk driving charge in Iowa ahead of scheduled presidential visit [0] bit.ly/oYWlXa
Repost from 23 Apr 2010: Popcorn Sutton: Dead By Government B-------
"He couldn't go to prison. His mind would just not accept it. ... So credit the federal government for my husband being dead, I really do."
--Pam Sutton
(I've finally found an article that expresses my true feelings about the disgraceful, criminal treatment of a hero, although he could have accomplished the same purpose with less profanity. Dixie and I plan to go to his hometown after the SCV's Sam Davis Youth Camp this summer, and pay our respects.
===============================================Warning: Language, and repeated in the beginning. BT)
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"He was a Free Man. One of the few who can honestly say they deserve that title. The chains never came to rest upon him.
Can any of us say the same?
You can live on your knees, or die on your feet. You can be safe, or you can be free.
A man chooses. A slave obeys."
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Popcorn Sutton: Dead By Government B-------
Alabama legislators file brief in immigration case, saying feds tread on state sovereignty
MOREA federal court brief filed by 14 Alabama legislators says an attempt by the U.S. Justice Department to block enforcement of Alabama's new illegal immigration law treads on state sovereignty.The TimesDaily reports that in a brief filed Monday, attorneys for House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, and Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, and others contend the federal government is undermining the state's law.
Air Force Discharging 'Birther' Staff Sgt.
The Air Force said Wednesday it is discharging a hero of the so-called birther movement who refused to report to duty in Germany for a few days earlier this month because he doubts President Obama's citizenship.Staff Sgt. Daryn Moran expects to be discharged within the next week. Although the 41-year-old Nebraska man refused to report to duty and had called for Obama's arrest in statements on websites, several other things contributed to his discharge, including his opposition to Obama's decision to allow gays to serve openly in the military.
Moran, who has served nine years in the Air Force, drew the attention of the birther movement when he shared his views on Obama's citizenship on websites of groups that believe Obama was not born in the U.S. and therefore is not eligible to serve as president or commander in chief.
Obama released a copy of his detailed birth certificate from Hawaii in April in an attempt to quell the questions about whether he was born outside the U.S. But many birthers contend Obama's birth certificate must be a fake.Moran was an ophthalmology technician with the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany, where he had been stationed since October 2010. He was put on leave sometime earlier this year after some of his co-workers at the eye clinic were bothered by comments he made about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell" and about Muslim terrorists and how he thought Obama was connected to Muslims. One of the doctors at the clinic was Muslim.
It's not clear whether Moran would have been prosecuted for refusing to report for duty because it appears his discharge was approved by his commander about a week beforehand.
SEC Said to Have Destroyed Files on Probes of Banks, Hedge Funds
A Securities and Exchange Commission whistleblower says the regulator destroyed files over the past several years related to inquiries into possible suspicious activities at banks and hedge funds, the Wall Street Journal reports.
SEC lawyer Darcy Flynn says in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) that the organization has destroyed 9,000 files since 1993 regarding securities-law violations at institutions including Goldman Sachs Group, Lehman Brothers Holdings and hedge fund SAC Capital.
Grassley has reached out to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro, asking her to respond to several questions about Flynn's claims.
"From what I've seen, it looks as if the SEC might have sanctioned some level of case-related document destruction," Grassley says in a statement, the Journal reports. "It doesn't make sense that an agency responsible for investigations would want to get rid of potential evidence."
Joe Wilson: I Was Right to Yell '‘You Lie’ at Obama
Nearly two years after shouting “You lie” at President Barack Obama during an address to a joint session of Congress, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson says he has been vindicated.
Wilson was heavily criticized for breaching decorum by yelling out during Obama’s speech outlining his healthcare plans. But now he says he has been proved right, according to The Hill.
Wilson’s outburst came after Obama said illegal immigrants would not benefit under his plan.
“The reforms I am proposing would not apply to those what are here illegally,” the president said.
But Wilson says $8.5 million of a $28.8 million award to community healthcare centers has been specifically set aside to help seasonal and migrant farm workers, and that the clinics have been told not to ask for immigration status.
"It is clearly providing money that should be going to American citizens not to illegal immigrants," he told the Fox News show “America Live.”
"It's even worse than I thought,” he added. “They won't even ask for status."
