John Stossel on Prohibition

Census Propaganda for Kids

Tax-Feeders Get a Pay Raise

Unemployment is in the double digits, and yet Washington goes ahead and gives those already living off their fellow citizens a pay raise.

FDA Bans Flavored Cigarettes

Here's a little reminder from your friendly neighborhood thugs at the FDA:

As of today, it's illegal in the U.S. to buy or sell most flavored cigarettes.

However, the FDA ban does not include the most popular cigarette flavor: menthol. It does cover every other conceivable flavor, including candy, spice, herb, cola, fruit, and coffee flavors.

The flavored-cigarette ban is the FDA's first major anti-tobacco action since President Barack Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in June. The law gives the FDA the power to regulate tobacco products.

The law doesn't let FDA ban cigarettes entirely. But Congress has stated that flavors make cigarettes more appealing to youth and increase their exposure to toxic substances.

As a result, the FDA now rules that flavorings designed to appeal to youths "are considered adulterated."

"Flavored cigarettes attract and allure kids into addiction," Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Howard Koh, MD, MPH, said at a news conference held to announce the ban.

Look for candy cigarettes to be banned within the next five years. Yes, the insanity is that widespread.

The Government Can

Who's in Charge of Your Health?

Why, the government is, of course! Just ask Daniel Hauser, who has been forced to undergo chemotherapy against his beliefs. Oh, and ask Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. He just vetoed a bill that would allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana to alleviate pain.

Radley Balko disagrees, and he points out the glaring discrepancy:

The state of Minnesota is forcing Daniel Hauser into chemo because he isn't old enough to decide his own course of treatment, and because his parents' claimed moral opposition to chemotherapy is irrational. Yet at the same time, the state will forbid Hauser from smoking marijuana to offset the effects of said chemo because, despite research showing marijuana's clear benefits in that area, the state has a moral obligation to prevent people from smoking marijuana. Science should trump belief. Except when it doesn't.

Cheerios Is Now a Drug

The (unconstitutional and tyrannical) Food and Drug Administration is treating America's favorite breakfast cereal as a drug. Why? It seems General Mills has been making certain claims the FDA believes "indicate that Cheerios is intended for use in lowering cholesterol, and therefore in preventing, mitigating, and treating the disease hypercholesterolemia. Additionally, the claims indicate that Cheerios is intended for use in the treatment, mitigation, and prevention of coronary heart disease through, lowering total and 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol." Naturally, General Mills received a friendly letter that threatened legal action if the company didn't cease making such claims in compliance with the FDA's (unconstitutional and tyrannical) regulations.

What's next? DEA raids on kitchen pantries across America to make sure that middle-aged men who just got their cholesterol test results back aren't consuming Cheerios for the wrong reasons?

Better get used to the idea. The government is going to take care of you whether you like it or not.

(HT: Chris Knight)

More Drugs in Our Water?

The "civilized" world has already caved to forced fluoridation. Now, some think it might be a good idea to start adding lithium to the mix. The Telegraph has the story:

Very low levels of lithium in drinking water may help prevent suicide in the general population, according to a new study.

The study has prompted calls for further research into the possibility of adding lithium to drinking supplies -- like water fluoridation to improve dental health.

Researchers at Oita University in Japan measured natural lithium levels in tap water in 18 communities in the surrounding region of southern Japan. ...

... Professor Allan Young, a Vancouver-based psychiatrist, has described the study as "intriguing".

Professor Young said: "A logical first step would be for the Medical Research Council to convene an expert working party to examine the available evidence and suggest further research.

"Large-scale trials involving the addition of lithium to drinking water supplies may then be feasible, although this would undoubtedly be subject to considerable debate. Following up on these findings will not be straightforward or inexpensive, but the eventual benefits for community mental health may be considerable."

While some substances like fluoride and lithium can occur naturally, what's added to our water supply is anything but natural. For example, the most common type of fluoride added to municipal drinking water is a hazardous industrial waste known as hydrofluorosilicic acid.

Jerk Chicken vs. Government Jerks

In the U.K., the war on obesity has been taken to the next level. The Mail Online has the story:

The hit squad had prepared their raid long in advance.

At 10am eight police officers, some in anti-stab vests, joined three council employees on the doorstep of the Bamboo Joint takeaway.

Their mission? To stamp out the practice of selling jerk chicken within 400 metres of a secondary school. Yesterday, the Jamaican cafe in Leytonstone, East London, became the first takeaway in the country to be given a closure order under guidelines banning the sale of fast food near educational establishments.

Its owners were given three days to shut up shop.

They were informed by Waltham Forest Council that their small premises, on a busy high street, was not only within 400 metres of a secondary school but also within 200 metres of a primary school and 100 metres from a public park.

The action is intended to combat child obesity by reducing the number of shops selling unhealthy fast food near schools and parks.

Co-owner Maureen Farrell, who opened the Bamboo Joint six weeks ago, said she felt she was being victimised by a council which was acting 'completely over the top'.

'They told us that it's because we are too near a school, but this street is full of takeaways selling fish and chips and burgers.

I'm really beginning to wonder if there's any difference at all between fascism and insanity.

"Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You..."

Obama has signed his national service bill into law:

President Obama this afternoon signed the $5.7 billion Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which triples the size of the AmeriCorps program.

Appearing at the SEED school in Washington, the president called the bill "the boldest expansion of opportunities to serve our communities and our country since the creation of AmeriCorps."

"What this legislation does, then, is to help harness this patriotism and connect deeds to needs," he said. "It creates opportunities to serve for students, seniors and everyone in between. It supports innovation and strengthens the nonprofit sector. And it is just the beginning of a sustained, collaborative and focused effort to involve our greatest resource, our citizens, in the work of remaking this nation."

The bill will expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots to 250,000 over eight years. It will "focus that service on today's challenges, including clean energy, education, health care, veterans care, and economic opportunity," according to the White House, and "provide new service opportunities for millions of Americans at all stages of their lives." ...

... "We need your service, right now at this moment in history," the president said from the podium. "I'm not going to tell you what your role should be. That's for you to discover. But I'm asking you to stand up and play your part. I'm asking you to help change history's course, put your shoulder up against the wheel."

We've seen these kinds of "voluntary service" programs before...

"Reich Labor Service: We build body and soul."


"No one shall go hungry! No one shall be cold!"


"Health, child protection, fighting poverty, aiding travellers, community, helping mothers: These are the tasks of the National Socialist People's Charity. Become a member!"


"Don't give. Sacrifice."

Do we really want to go there again?

Advice on Getting Through Tough Economic Times, Courtesy of the Ones Who Caused Them

It's no joke. The feds -- yes, the very culprits who caused the financial crisis -- have set up an online resource entitled Getting Through Tough Economic Times. It offers "practical advice on how to deal with the effects financial difficulties can have on your physical and mental health." There you will find all sorts of government-approved information on:

• Possible health risks
  
• Warning signs
  
• Managing stress
  
• Getting help
  
• Suicide warning signs
  
• Other steps you can take

Isn't it nice to know the Nanny State's got your back?

Papa Don't Preach

The British government is encouraging parents to, well, not parent.
From Times Online:

Parents should avoid trying to convince their teenage children of the difference between right and wrong when talking to them about sex, a new government leaflet is to advise.

Instead, any discussion of values should be kept "light" to encourage teenagers to form their own views, according to the brochure, which one critic has called "amoral".

Talking to Your Teenager About Sex and Relationships will be distributed in pharmacies from next month as part of an initiative led by Beverley Hughes, the children's minister.

The leaflet comes in the wake of the case of Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy from East Sussex who fathered a child with a 15-year-old girl and sparked a debate about how to cut rates of teenage parenthood.

It advises: "Discussing your values with your teenagers will help them to form their own. Remember, though, that trying to convince them of what's right and wrong may discourage them from being open."

You know it's a bad idea when the so-called "experts" start weighing in with their support:

Linda Blair, a clinical psychologist, said educating older children and teenagers about sex had to be a process of negotiation. "We do not know what is right and wrong; right and wrong is relative, although your child does need clear guidelines," she said.

So, if you hate your children, go ahead and heed their advice and refuse to teach them right from wrong. It really is the least you could do.

Ron Paul on Bill Maher's Show

Propaganda Progression

This film from the 1940s now seems a bit prophetic:

Contrast that with the propaganda put out today by Washington bureaucrats and their willing accomplices in the mainstream media:

Faith in Government Is the Root of the Problem

So writes Paul Ibrahim:

Most Americans are raised by the government. They are usually raised for more than 12 years in public schools that they are forced to pay for, and, for the financially restricted, forced to attend. Even if they are lucky enough to have a choice in education, they grow up bombarded by pervasive laws -- and not just the necessary types that regulate traffic and criminal activity, but the types that ban certain "unhealthy" cooking, prohibit smoking on private property and order the use of helmets and seatbelts.

It is therefore not surprising that many -- too many -- Americans reach adulthood with a built-in, assumed, inherent faith in a notional all-knowing and compassionate government. For these Americans, questioning the role of government in certain areas is very much like questioning the essence of life itself. ...

... Too many Americans have grown up believing that it is the government’s job to play a big activist role in society and in the economy. This ideology is more or less dependent on the (false) assumption that government is an inherently good institution filled with inherently good people who wake up everyday wondering how they can act to improve a constituent’s life.

Fat Tax? How About a Quack Tax?

New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines released the following video in support of Governor David Paterson's scheme to impose an 18 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Oh, but it's not about the money; it's a public health issue:

I suggest imposing a quack tax on any doctor serving as a paid shill for the state. Euthanizing liberty is a Hippocratic no-no.

You Asked for It, You Got It: Government Control Over Everything

A Step Toward Universal Health Care

From the New York Times:

Without waiting for President-elect Barack Obama, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, will unveil a detailed blueprint on Wednesday to guarantee health insurance for all Americans by facilitating sales of private insurance, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide or pay for health benefits.

Aides to Mr. Obama said they welcomed the Congressional efforts, had encouraged Congress to take the lead and still considered health care a top priority, despite the urgent need to address huge problems afflicting the economy.

The plan proposed by Mr. Baucus, Democrat of Montana, would eventually require everyone to have health insurance coverage, with federal subsidies for those who could not otherwise afford it.

Other Democrats with deep experience in health care are also drafting proposals to expand coverage and slow the growth of health costs. These lawmakers include Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representatives John D. Dingell of Michigan and Pete Stark of California.

The proposals are all broadly compatible with Mr. Obama's campaign promises. But Mr. Baucus's 35,000-word plan would go further than Mr. Obama's in one respect, eventually requiring all people -- not just children -- to have coverage.

Freedom is having the government tell you how to live your life.

More Proof There Is No Difference Between the Two Major Parties

John McCain and Barack Obama joined forces in supporting the economic bailout bill in the Senate. If this doesn't convince people that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the Republican and Democratic parties, I don't know what will.

The debates are a joke. The entire presidential election will be a sham. Voters will be expected to choose between two men who obviously have only the interests of the state in mind and then pat themselves on the back for having done their "civic duty." Give me a break.

A Glimpse at the Universal Health Care Socialist Utopia

This country won't just jump into universal health care overnight. Like every other erosion of liberty, it requires a piecemeal approach to alleviate suspicion. That includes things like price-fixing, controlling the dispensing of drugs, telling doctors who they can and can't treat, which insurance plans they must accept, and so on. The result, of course, is an overall drop in the quality of care. Expect to see more stories like this in the near future:

The wait to see primary care doctors in Massachusetts has grown to as long as 100 days, while the number of practices accepting new patients has dipped in the past four years, with care the scarcest in some rural areas.

Now, as the state's health insurance mandate threatens to make a chronic doctor shortage worse, the Legislature has approved an unprecedented set of financial incentives for young physicians, and other programs to attract primary care doctors. But healthcare leaders fear the new measures will take several years to ease the shortage.

Those who support universal health care want everyone to be treated equally. So, when everyone is suffering because of their idiotic policies, they will know they have succeeded.