British Civil Servants Lose Public Support

Government unions on both sides of the Atlantic seems to feel that they should be immune from marketplace forces. Ordinary middle-class individuals and families who are barely making ends meet under the current economic conditions should be -- according to organized labor-- forced to pay for unlimited benefits for the entitled public-sector workforce no matter what.

Despite predictable efforts by the left-wing media, it is interesting that a strike by public sector workers in the U.K. over pension reform this week apparently turned out to be a big flop. London Telegraph blogger James Delingpole describes the public mood in Britain:

I got my answer from a chance remark made by Jeremy Vine after our interview. He was telling me about the phone-in he'd done the day before during the public sector workers' strike and what had astonished him was the mood of the callers. If I remember what he said correctly, one of his studio guests was a nurse on a £40,000 PA salary, with a guaranteed £30,000 pension, and this had not gone down well with the mother-of-three from Northern Ireland struggling as a finance officer in the private sector on a salary of £14,000 and no pension to speak of. The callers were very much on the side of the private sector. In fact, they were on the whole absolutely apoplectic that privileged, relatively overpaid public sector workers with their gold-plated pensions should have the gall to go out on strike when the people who pay their salaries – private sector workers – have to go on slogging their guts out regardless.

Sound familiar?

Petition Fraud in Walker Recall?

 [Image Credit: Megan McCormick]

Vote fraud is a huge problem in our elections, but here's a new wrinkle: Petition signature fraud seems to be in play in the effort to recall Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin.

You may remember that the "Democrat-Union Complex" came unglued when Walker sought to implement modest collective bargaining reforms that avoided a budgetary disaster in the state. Walker ultimately prevailed, but now organized labor wants to kick him out of office before the end of his term. It seems the apparently misnamed Wisconsin Government Accountability Board isn't going to do much about petition shenanigans either.So who will watch the watchdogs?

The state board overseeing the potential recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tells the MacIver News Service that they will rely upon temporary workers to scrutinize recall petitions and those individuals will not be expected to catch any duplicate signatures submitted by recall organizers.

This revelation comes as one statewide liberal group is actively promoting the collection of duplicate signatures, paving the way for a lengthy process wherein Walker supporters will challenge the validity of the recall petitions...

[GAB spokesman]Magney told MNS said that the pro-union groups obtaining recall signatures will be expected to self-police the collection of duplicate signatures.

However, neither the state Democratic Party nor the pro-labor organizations steering the recall drive have disclosed any process by which they will identify and discard the duplicate signatures they obtain.

When was the last time a union successfully "self-policed" itself, especially during electioneering? The same GAB spokesman earlier said that "the burden of proving the validity of signatures will fall on Governor Walker, not those filing the recall petitions." State law grants Walker a mere 10 days to challenge ineligible signatures.

Recallers need about 540,000 thousand valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Added: in writing about the Democrat-union "perpetual hissy fit" manifested in this instance by the Walker recall, libertarian Tim Nerzenz writes that he does not stand with Scott Walker. Instead, Scott Walker stands with him:

I stand for the right to work.  I stand against compulsory unionization.  I stand for the right of every employee to join a union, and for the equal right of every employee to work free of union impairment.  I stand for the right of every union to collect its own dues directly from its members.  I stand for the right of every business owner to deal directly with his/her employees or to work through an intermediary as he or she sees fit.  I stand for the right of any business to refrain from political activity altogether without being targeted for boycotts by extortionists...

So no, my dear Democrat friends, I will not be signing your recall petitions.  When you come to my door I will not be ungracious; I will not be unkind.   I will not tell you “I stand with Scott Walker” and slam the door in your face.  I will tell you instead that I stand for Liberty, and then I will ask you why you will not stand with me.  It is a reasonable question, and I expect you to answer it.  It is the least you can do if you want me to help you turn the whole state upside down to rehash your grievance over again for the umpteenth time.

Read the whole piece here.

Update: A grassroots organization of volunteers is forming check the validity of all signatures submitted in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. To participate or find out more about this effort, go to verifytherecall.com.

Washington Bureaucrats Coming After Your Health Supplements

[Image Credit: Ragesoss]

Imagine going to your local health food store or supermarket and finding the shelves normally containing your favorite vitamin and nutritional supplements completely bare.

There is still time to sign an online petition opposing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draconian supplement regulations that threatens access to dietary supplements. It wouldn't hurt to contact your member of Congress too.

As Citizens for Health explains...

[The FDA] is attempting to drastically change existing law by saying that finished product manufacturers must make a submission for every product that contains a [New Dietary Ingredient--NID] or whenever a formula is changed, if an NDI is present. If this guidance is not withdrawn and its misinterpretation of law is backed by the FDA's own policy, review and enforcement powers, it would cause major disruption in the dietary supplement market; force a significant number of products off the shelves; and result in revenue losses of over a billion dollars and the unemployment of over 100,000 Americans. Neither American consumers nor the dietary supplement industry should stand for this unconscionable attempt by the FDA to, via various NDI-related side doors, effectively re-write [the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994], maim the health-food industry and drastically reduce consumer choice.

While supplements by themselves aren't always a complete panacea (and some products are hyped up or lack quality ingredients), FDA bureaucrats who routinely allow toxic pharmaceutical drugs into the marketplace seem hell-bent on getting their hooks into the supplement industry. Supplements can and do form one part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

If Obamacare is not repealed, and rationing and death panels become the norm (as has occurred everywhere where socialized medicine has been tried), health freedom and taking charge of our own health with more natural approaches will become even more important.

As one of the comments on the Citizens for Health website indicates: "No one has the right to tell us what supplements and vitamins we can have. That isn't protecting us, it's restraint of trade and is big pharma's way of growing even more powerful and corrupt."

Have you noticed how the same lapdog "pro choice" mainstream news media that seems to accept virtually every job- and freedom-killing Obama administration initiative at face value also regularly helps to demonize generally safe supplements at the behest of Washington bureaucrats and "Big Pharma"? Along these lines, responding to a recent widely publicized American Medical Association study of questionable methodology that sought to discredit vitamins, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com wrote in part:

Caught yet again, the mainstream media has been exposed pulling off a juvenile, simplistic hoax that attempts to scare people away from good nutrition. To accomplish this hoax, they took a poorly-constructed "scientific" study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine which was itself based on erroneous conclusions...and then blatantly misreported what the study data actually showed.

Exit Heidi Watney

In the aftermath of the September beer-and-chicken collapse, the Boston Red Sox lost Tito, Theo, and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Other departures are expected. But forget the players and coaches for a moment; NESN viewers may miss stunning reporter Heidi Watney the most. Today is her last day on the job. Although she was unable to officially confirm yet, Watney is apparently returning to California to work for the Lakers, but expect to see her on other high-profile media gigs. Watney appeared for an hour on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan sports radio show (which is simulcast on NESN) this morning to reflect on the season and take calls from fans. Heidi's final NESN assignment will be covering incoming manager Bobby Valentine's press conference this evening.

Here is a portion of this morning's WEEI/NESN farewell interview:

Perhaps her most famous YouTube moment:

Gov. Christie: What Are We Paying You For, Mr. President?

While delivering remarks from a commercial kitchen (apparently Denny's in Newark) may not be a good visual for the portly New Jersey governor, Chris Christie's remarks on failed presidential leadership seems on target:



Along similar lines, Donald Trump was less than pleased with the scheduling of a presidential fundraiser on the same evening of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting:



 Added: Investor's Business Daily also wasn't thrilled with the fundraiser with the crony capitalist 1% either:

President Obama jammed traffic in Manhattan on Wednesday. State business? No, he was raising campaign funds. It's just the latest example of his questionable strategy of running for re-election by taking from the public.

And no, the public was not invited. Three stops the president made were strictly for fat-cat donors who paid as much as $36,000 a plate for the privilege, while reporters weren't even permitted to cover the protests outside the hotels.

But the trip was hardly just between Obama and his donors. The three trips disrupted rush hour traffic in New York City and the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, something that very much cost the public time and money. The only winner was Obama, who flew home with $2.4 million.

That's emblematic of the arrogance of this president and the kind of re-election campaign we can expect him to conduct: always leaning on the public and its government to get his.

Dr. Conrad Murray Gets Maximum Sentence in Jackson Death

A Los Angeles County judge today sentenced Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, to four years in jail (the maximum sentence under the law) for involuntary manslaughter. Because of California prison overcrowding, however, Murray will serve his time in county jail rather than a hardcore prison and likely be released early no matter where he winds up. House arrest is also a possibility. Murray would have received a harsher sentence had he been tried and convicted of a crime that requires specific intent to do harm, otherwise known in the law as malice aforethought.

ABC Reporter Questions Presidential Campaign Travel

Here's some breaking news: a member of the usually compliant White House press corps finally asks a tough question. Congratulations to Jake Tapper of ABC News who asked administration spokesman Jay Carney if Obama was "campaigning on the taxpayer's dime" after The Wall Street Journal wrote about Obama's record-setting swing-state visits.

Considering the Obamas charge the taxpayer for their lavish vacations and a never-ending series of fundraisers and White House parties, is this any surprise?

By the way, what is up with political hacks like Carney (and many others) relying on the thumb-index finger gesture for emphasis?