Senate Democrat Trying to Block Access to Nutritional Supplements

                                     photo credit: Clean Wal-Mart via photopin cc

Longtime health freedom foe Dick Durbin, the Illinois senator, is at it again.

The Democrat is apparently trying to slip in an amendment to the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187) under the radar that could take away your access to safe vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Organizations such as Citizens for Health and the Alliance for Natural Health USA are sounding the alarm about Durbin's latest effort to unfairly target dietary supplement makers (he tried and failed last year to get similar legislation passed).

The amendment in question, according to the Alliance for Natural Health, contains several onerous provisions including...

among other things, that supplement companies must register their products with the [Food and Drug Administration] within 30 days, or they will be considered "misbranded" and companies will be subject to outrageous financial penalties, possibly even jail time. To avoid this, many companies will simply remove their supplements from the shelves until they are able to comply with the new requirement.

Citizens for Health asks "why give the FDA, an agency that has shown an anti-supplement bias in the past, the power to arbitrarily amass a list of 'potentially dangerous' dietary ingredients, especially when there is already a system in place to ensure the safety of supplements?

These organizations and others are asking every health-conscious consumer to contact your U.S. Senators immediately to vote no on Durban amendment to S. 3187.

Sen. Durbin inspired the nickname "Dick Turban" for his offensive and absurd statement comparing the Guantanamo Bay detention center to Nazi death camps back in 2005.

Update: Good news--the Senate defeated the Durbin amendment by a vote of 77 to 20.

 

Judge to NLRB: No Quickie Elections For You

                                           photo credit: Vectorportal via photo pin cc

Earlier this month, an Obama-appointed federal judge tossed out on procedural grounds the National Labor Relations Board's latest power grab that would have shortened the period for collective bargaining elections from about 40 days to a union-friendly 10-21 days.

There were only three active Board members on the five-member Board at the time the rule was "enacted," and Republican Brian Hayes did not log in to the NLRB's electronic network or cast a vote in the proceeding.

The judge, James Boasberg, determined that there was no quorum and therefore the Board lacked the legal authority to go forward with the rule. Boasberg declined to address the merits of the rule, however. For now the rule is not in effect.

The Brody and Associates law firm explains:

The quickie elections rule substantially shortened the timeframe between when a union files a recognition petition and when an election is held.  The result was that unions could ambush employers and have an election before the employer could express its views to employees.  With the rule in abeyance, the regular timelines apply.

The NLRB could appeal Boasberg's finding or revote on the rule now that the Board is up to full strength. The problem there is that Obama's three NLRB recess appointments were made when the Senate was not in recess in January 2012, and as a result the appointments themselves are being challenged on constitutional grounds in federal court.

In April, after two conflicting lower court decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals put on hold another NLRB rule that would have required virtually all employers to hang a placard about employee rights to unionize. The rule is in limbo until the D.C. Circuit rules on the appeal, which is expected this fall. The rule would have gone into effect on April 30.

One of the plaintiffs, the National Federation of Independent Business, had this to say:

By delaying the poster rule until the appellate court has time to consider the merits of NFIB’s appeal, small-business owners can breathe a temporary sigh of relief. Of course, real relief will not come until the court rules that NLRB does not have the power to issue edicts empowering Big Labor and hurting small business

Casey Anthony You've Been Served

Casey Anthony, American's non-sweetheart, will have to show up in court as a defendant in a civil defamation case brought by nanny Zenaida Gonzalez because Gonzalez's team finally served her with the necessary legal papers.

The woman Casey Anthony falsely accused of abducting her doomed 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, tracked Anthony down to her Florida hideout and slapped her with a subpoena...Anthony, the most hated mother in America, was acquitted of murder last year — even after her lawyers admitted she made up the bogus “Zanny the Nanny” story...

Gonzalez’s investigators staked out Anthony’s new home for days, but their target refused to appear and be served with a subpoena, they said. Anthony’s lawyers eventually gave up and agreed to accept the court papers for the defamation lawsuit that is scheduled to begin next January in Orlando.

Anthony has a January 2013 trial date assuming there is no settlement or postponement.

Presidential Election Voting Guide

For those of you still obsessed with (nonexistent) ideological purity, here is sample ballot for the 2012 presidential election:

[h/t Legal Insurrection]

 

Liberal Wisconsin Newspaper Endorses Scott Walker

Particularly given what we've seen in the past three years, it's difficult to ascribe good faith to the "Democrat-Media Complex" (Andrew Breitbart's term). So when a big liberal paper like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel endorses Gov. Scott Walker in the Wisconsin recall election, it suggests that internal polling convinced the editorial board to get on board the Walker train just for appearance sake.

Although the paper stated that "we see no reason to remove Walker from office," the endorsement was also qualified:

Walker's rematch with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett was prompted by one issue: Walker's tough stance with the state's public-employee unions....Walker brought some of this animosity on himself...We think his limits on collective bargaining went too far...And while we think Act 10 - the law that clipped the wings of most public-employee unions in the state - was an overreach of political power, we understand and supported the need to rein in the state's labor costs...Even if you disagree with Walker's policies, does that justify cutting short his term as governor? And if so, where does such logic lead? To more recall elections? More turmoil?

 The Wisconsin recall is the most important election in America other than the presidential vote in November.

This video in support of Walker is kind of corny but also kind of cool:




 

Krauthammer: AG Holder is a Political Hack

Charles Krauthammer won't be joining the Eric Holder fan club anytime soon:

Dershowitz: Drop Second Degree Murder Chargers Against George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin Case

With the release of more evidence in the Trayvon Martin case, influential liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz is even more convinced  as he explains in this interview with Megyn Kelly that there was a political motivation behind the second degree murder charge against George Zimmerman.

Dershowitz contends that Zimmerman acted in self defense even if he provoked the encounter with Trayvon Martin. Bernard Goldberg adds that the original assumptions in the case fit the liberal storyline.

 

The First Day of the Romney Presidency

In a non-linear, back-to-the-future world, Mitt Romney had a pretty busy 24 hours as America's new chief executive:

Voter Fraud Alert: North Carolina

Project Veritas, the brainchild of muckraker James O'Keefe, has done excellent work in exposing America's almost criminally lax voting procedures that are tailor-made for vote fraud. The investigation recently moved to North Carolina, which doesn't require a photo ID to vote:



The problem is hardly restricted to any one particular state. Florida officials have found over 50,000 dead people and some 180,000 non-citizens on the voting rolls.

Fed Court Okays Gov. Scott Walker's Union Law

                                          [photo credit: Megan McCormick]

A federal judge upheld key portion's of Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining reforms today:

State unions were dealt a setback Friday when a federal judge said they would have to get their members to opt in, rather than opt out, to having the state deduct union dues from their paychecks.

What's more, the judge did not rule on dues deductions for unions that he earlier found the state improperly decertified. The state's largest unions were decertified, and the ruling - at least for now - will make it harder for them to get money from dues.

The judge had disallowed certain other aspects of Walker's legislation, but much of that is on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Things are looking good for Walker generally, as recent polling data puts him (and Lt.Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch) out front in the June 5 recall election, the latest expensive tantrum inflicted on ordinary Wisconsin taxpayers by organized labor. If the soft-spoken, mild-mannered Walker prevails, he will instantaneously become a national political powerhouse and likely inheriting the title of America's Governor from Chris Christie.

We'd feel better about Walker's chances if a corrupt left-wing (is there any other kind?) state judge hadn't blocked Wisconsin's photo ID law. It was also disappointing that neither the state appeals or supreme court were willing to take up the case in the short term. After what amounts to a phony show trial and then the appeals process, the photo ID law will eventually take effect, however, and hopefully before the November presidential election.

Here is Walker's latest commercial

 

Most Viewed Posts in April 2012

By page views, here are the most popular In General Counsel posts of the month:

• Clay Buchholz and Jenny Dell at Red Sox Spring Training  [all-time leader]
• Sarasota Signage: Defeat Obama in 2012 
• Contessa Brewer Loses MSNBC Anchor Gig 
• Dershowitz: Zimmerman Indictment "Thin" 
• Hawaii TSA and Airport Workers Charged with Meth Smuggling
• Lilyhammer Review: "Silvio" from The Sopranos Relocates from Jersey to Norway
• Did Tim Tebow and Tom Brady Vote for Rick Santorum in Minnesota?
• The People's Court: Justice or Just Us? 
• The Most Interesting Man in the...South Carolina Primary
• Cesar Milan, the "Dog Whisperer," Quietly Settles Divorce