Junk Science Behind Junk Food

From Tea Party Patriots --

First, it was skyrocketing premiums. Then, it was non-compliant plans. Now, the far-reaching effects of Obamacare are coming to a vending machine near you. Food labeling regulations, namely Section 4205 of the Affordable Care Act, were finalized on April 3 by the Food and Drug Administration, requiring vending machines to now post the calorie content of all food items. This latest action sets into motion another costly measure that will have a profound impact on businesses.

Companies operating 20 or more vending machines, which dispense prepackaged and premade food items, will have to adhere to the new rule. According to the FDA’s own analysis, millions of machines will be affected.

“FDA estimates that there would be approximately 10,800 operators under the proposed requirements, controlling between 4 million and 5.6 million machines that sell covered vending machine foods. The initial mean estimated cost of complying with the proposed requirements is $25.8 million, with an estimated mean ongoing cost of $24.0 million… Per operator costs are estimated to be $2,400. FDA estimates that average per machine costs are less than $10 annually.” [1]

The FDA report tried to make this unreasonable mandate appear more palatable with its $10-per-machine breakdown. However, as Ohio Watchdog.org pointed out, it’s going to financially squeeze small businesses.

“Chris Heaton, director of sales for Enterprise Vending Inc., said his company can now begin to calculate costs. It won’t be cheap.

“It’s an investment without any return to the company,” Heaton said.

If the FDA estimates of less than $10 per vending machine for compliance costs are accurate, “the impact to Enterprise will be close to $500,000 annually.”

Based on industry estimates of one vending machine for every 40 adults, the total cost for Ohio businesses could be more than $2.2 million each year…

Does the FDA expect vending companies to eat the cost of the regulation?

“Unfortunately, that is realistic to expect,” Heaton said. “Just knowing the industry, the costs and the prices, there will be companies that struggle with the cost, the needed manpower, the labor and the printing to be able to cover the mandate with their current prices.”

He doesn’t think his competition will allow Enterprise to pass along the costs.” [2]

The added expense isn’t the only hurdle the industry faces in bringing the machines into compliance. The FDA originally estimated it would take 14 million hours annually for vending companies to comply. 

This generated outcry from industry experts, including National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) Sr. VP Government Affairs Ned Monroe, who stated, “Our industry has always understood that consumers need access to product nutritional information, but requiring an industry to invest 14 million hours annually is absurd and sure to kill jobs. We are opposed to the colossal burden these regulations impose on our industry and this report just confirms what an enormous and unfair burden it truly is.” [3] Through further data collection, the FDA decreased the hours of burden to 816,000. [1] 

This massive effort to “fundamentally transform” vending machines into calorie-conscious reminders at the expense of businesses must provide substantial benefits to do all this, right? Think again. FDA openly admitted:

“FDA has not estimated the actual benefits associated with proposed requirements. Food choice and consumption decisions are complex and FDA is unaware of any comprehensive data allowing accurate predictions of the effect of the proposed requirements on consumer choice and vended foods.” [1]

What’s even more disturbing is that there are published studies proving food labeling does nothing to modify consumer choice or curb obesity. [4]

Expensive, ineffective regulations backed by junk science or assumptions – what else can we expect from Obamacare?

Jenny Beth Martin on the IRS scandal: they want us in jail

Art credit: tsu3rdvp.blogspot.com

“One prosecution would make an impact” 

From Istook at The Washington Times:

IRS “wants to throw us in jail,” says tea party leader 

“They want to throw us in jail,” says Tea Party Patriots leader Jenny Beth Martin about the latest bombshell news of the IRS‘ targeting of the Tea Party movement.

Emails released under a federal court order showed the Obama administration’s Justice Department and the IRS‘ Lois Lerner discussed working together to find a tea party case they could prosecute for supposed false claims about political activity.

“One prosecution would make an impact,” Ms. Lerner wrote in one of her emails.

Ms. Lerner has pleaded the Fifth Amendment rather than testify to Congress. She faces contempt of Congress charges because she had already made self-serving statements before clamming up when questioned.

“Clearly they were trying to find ways to throw us in jail,” says Ms. Martin, co-founder and president of Tea Party Patriots, the largest national grassroots Tea Party group. “They were looking to trump up charges to throw us in jail,” she told me in an interview on my daily talk show on The Washington Times Radio Network.

“I cannot overstate the silencing effect this has already had on groups all across the country,” said Ms. Martin. “While the IRS lied to Congress … they were looking for ways to trump up charges to throw us in jail.”

The new batch of emails was not provided by the IRS to congressional investigators, but was obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch.

One of the emails specifically mentioned “Tea Party Patriots,” so Ms. Martin said the news of the Justice Department’s coordination with the IRS caught her immediate attention:

“All day long I just kept thinking, had the inspector general not come out with his report, would I have been in jail yesterday? Would they have found some reason to throw me in jail and would my 11-year-old twins be wondering what Mommy did wrong to throw me in jail, when indeed I hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just this Obama administration, this corrupt administration, trying to make people who disagreed with them be quiet.

“It’s sickening. We have to get to the bottom of this. The people who did this must be held accountable. We will do everything we can to make sure they are held accountable. We are not backing down. We will not let this government intimidate us.”

Nevertheless, she says the IRS effort already has suppressed conservative groups: “I cannot overstate the silencing effect this has already had on groups all over the country.”

Ms. Martin also told my listeners that Tea Party Patriots has filed its own FOIA lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury Department. The goal is to force disclosure of the secretive “off-plan” process used to develop proposed new stifling regulations on nonprofits that try to inform the public about what government is doing.

Responses to those FOIA requests were due in January, but the IRS kept dragging them out, most recently trying to extend its deadline until July. Instead, the Tea Party Patriots filed suit on April 15 to force the IRS to divulge the background and origin of those proposed regulations. More than 150,000 comments were submitted in response — a record number — mostly in opposition.

Ms. Martin says the regulations appear to be an extension of an out-of-control effort to target and suppress the tea party and other conservative groups.

“While they lied to Congress they were looking for ways to trump up charges to throw us in jail,” she told my audience. “We have government that has gone wild.

“To think that they were trying to throw volunteers in jail for speaking out against our government and being concerned about the direction of our country, for being concerned about our $17 trillion in debt … shows just how out of touch with reality and our founding principles the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., the Obama administration and the ‘Department of In-Justice’ are.

“It’s astounding that this is what’s happening in our government and our country. It’s not justice to try to punish people that disagree with you politically.”

Former Rep. Istook serves on the national board of Tea Party Patriots. Hear his daily radio show, noon to 3 p.m. Eastern, at www.kzlsam.com.   

Keep Cleveland Strong: Vote No on Sin Tax Issue 7!

It is time for all hands on deck to beat Issue 7 the proposed Sin Tax extension!  

Not surprisingly, on the pro-Sin Tax side the corporate cabal that has been fleecing the residents of Cuyahoga County for far too long - the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP) - has been running a constant campaign of misleading half truths and shameful scare tactics in the efforts to pass the Sin Tax.

Under the leadership of the same so-called corporate & elected leaders supporting the Sin Tax extension, the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County has continually rated in the top rankings of Worst City, Most Miserable City or Most Dangerous to live in the U.S. (2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013).  

And, I guess in trying to out do themselves being the 7th most financially distressed region in the U.S. for 2012 - the Cleveland/Cuyahoga area was rated the #1 Most Miserable City to live and one of the Worst Run Cities in the U.S. in 2014!

So as you see - while the pro-Sin Tax cabal has claimed the tag "Keep Cleveland Strong" it is clear this Cuyahoga County cadre of corporate clowns just want to "Keep Doing Cleveland Wrong!"

Why Should You Vote No on Issue 7?

If giving more money to the same corporate & elected leaders whose continued failed leadership earned us the above "stellar & cellar" rankings is not enough to Vote No on Issue 7 maybe how they are continuing to fleece the region for their pet projects will....

We still owe approximately $70 million on the Gateway bonds and will be paying those until 2023 to cover cost over runs in building Progressive Field & Quicken Loans Arena and to cover the poorly negotiated team leases.

The same Greater Cleveland Partnership fronted groups pushing for the Sin Tax are made up from the same corporate social club that pushed and received the forced sales tax increase for the Med Mart. In which we just paid another $3 million to part ways with the original developer MMPI.

And in the latest endeavor of feeding at the public trough is the proposed redesigning of Public Square at the cost of $60 million by Land Studios - another Greater Cleveland Partnership controlled front group.  

The City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have each pledged $10 million towards this project. That would be $20 million of your money! Forget about being responsible and using this money for their poorly negotiated leases, the Sin Tax or maybe important things like fixing our failing infrastructure & roads - we need more grass, green space and park benches! 

To summarize the Sin Tax -- 

The Sin Tax is set to expire in August 2015. 

Using their money & influence as the largest Chamber of Commerce in Ohio and one of the largest metropolitan chambers of commerce in the nation, the GCP had the GOP controlled Ohio Legislature add in a last minute provision to Governor Kasich's budget bill that would give Cuyahoga County the option to extend the Sin Tax beyond the scheduled 2015 expiration. 

Yes, the so-called "Party of Lower Taxes" controlling the Ohio legislature supported a tax extension. A better way of saying it is - the Ohio legislature dare not and know better than to defy the wishes of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.  

In conducting what amounted to nothing more than a dog & pony show for their pre-determined outcome and, without any meaningful discussions or consideration on alternative funding, the Cuyahoga County Council - doing their bidding for the GCP - immediately looked to your pocket book, and unanimously voted to put Issue 7 the Sin Tax extension on the upcoming May primary ballot.

To be clear with an indisputable fact - there was no need to immediately ask the voters to pay for the Sin Tax extension - there was plenty of time and it could have been put on the November 2014 or May 2015 ballot. And furthermore, there is no danger of losing our beloved sports teams should the Sin Tax extension be voted down.

If they wanted, the so-called corporate & elected "leaders" in Cuyahoga County had and still have more than enough time to explore alternative funding avenues for the Sin Tax.  

Without jeopardizing any funding or violating the leases, the Sin Tax extension could have been placed on the November 2014 or May 2015 ballot. Instead, and as usual in Cuyahoga County, they immediately look to the voters to support this "Billionaire Bailout" for the stadiums. 

By voting No on Issue 7 - it will simply force the so-called corporate & elected leaders to do their due diligence - which they did not do when the original leases were negotiated or now when they came straight to the voters asking for what amounts to a stimulus for the stadiums and/or a bailout for billionaires.

Most importantly voting No on Issue 7 will send a message that we the people of Cuyahoga County will no longer stand for the status quo that was supposed to have stopped with the Greater Cleveland Partnership pushed County Reform.

It is time to say enough is enough! 

Vote No on Issue 7!

Donald Rumsfeld's letter to the IRS

From Donald Rumsfeld's FB page (h/t Hot Air):

Speaker Boehner's Electile Dysfunction

There is only one thing that can be said about this video - Priceless!

The below video is from J.D. Winteregg (http://www.jdwinteregg.com/) who is running against Speaker Boehner in the Ohio 8th Congressional District...

To find out more about J.D. Winteregg click here.

Vote No on Issue 7: Spineless Pro-Sinners

As we see many local elected officials & candidates cowering in fear of the Greater Cleveland Partnership if they do not support passage of the Sin Tax (Issue 7), it is nice to see some candidates showing the resolve and integrity to stand up to the same corporate cabal that has been fleecing Cuyahoga County residents since their inception in 2004.  

To date, City of Cleveland Council members Brian Cummins & Michael Polensek are the only elected officials brave enough to speak out against the Sin Tax.

Sadly, every single one of the current County Council members & County Executive Ed FitzGerald showed they were woefully lacking in the spine department when it came to Issue 7 when they unanimously, with minimal if any discussion of alternative funding avenues, voted for it to be placed on the May 2014 ballot.

In the contested races for County Council and the Democrat primary for County Executive, there are only 2 candidates that have shown they are willing to speak out against the status quo and have declared their opposition to Issue 7, the Sin Tax.

Challenging incumbent County Councilwoman Sunny Simon in District 11 is John Currid.  Besides wanting a plastic bag tax, Simon is a staunch supporter of  - and had no issues with immediately asking the voters to pay for - the Sin Tax.

In contrast to Simon, her challenger John Currid is very clear in his stance against Issue 7 the Sin Tax. He does not believe that the voters should again be burdened with the Sin Tax.

From John Currid --

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

February 18, 2014 

CONTACT: 

John J. Currid

(216) 502-0914

campaign@bestcuyahoga.com

WEBSITE:

http://www.BESTCuyahoga.com

Innovative Thinking and Fresh Ideas Needed; the Sin Tax Is a Failed Funding Scheme. 

South Euclid, OH – John J. Currid, Candidate for County Council, District 11 has come out against the renewal of the County Sin Tax and urges residents to reject the upcoming tax levy. Previous leaders for both the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County entered into agreements that were short sighted and placed a heavy burden on the residents of Cuyahoga County. The Sin Tax was established as a scheme to pay for the unfunded promises of Gateway and the Cleveland Browns Stadium. 

“I am running for County Council because the time is long overdue for leadership that provides unique ideas and innovative solutions that makes Cuyahoga County more attractive to young families and competitive businesses throughout the county” says Currid. 

If the Sin Tax is not renewed, the county and City of Cleveland are still responsible for the legal agreements made with each of the teams. With the announcement that United Airlines is pulling their Hub from Cleveland Hopkins Airport there is a distinctive opportunity to responsibly fund these obligations while making Cuyahoga County an inviting community for families to take root and competitive for businesses to prosper. 

Rather then burdening the residents with this continued tax Currid suggests, “The time has come to close Burke Lakefront Airport and immediately implement a redevelopment plan for the lakefront. Burke Lakefront is an unnecessary and rarely used luxury that we can no longer afford.” 

The benefits of a thriving lakefront support a BEST Cuyahoga; this is a responsible and achievable plan that makes Cuyahoga County more competitive and desirable for families and businesses to invest in the county while loosening the tax burden currently keeping the region down. To learn more about this and other plans that make up the BEST Cuyahoga (Business, Education, Safety, & Taxes) visit www.BESTCuyahoga.com. 

###

On the other side of the aisle, in the Democrat primary for County Executive, against the establishment supported front-runner Armond Budish, all but one of the candidates are Sin Tax supporters.

Democrat candidate Tim Russo has been the only County Executive candidate that has been vocal and actively working across the political aisle in trying to defeat the Sin Tax.  

County Council incumbents & Ed FitzGerald should all be ashamed for continuing with the same status quo, especially since the voters in Cuyahoga County spoke out against the status quo by passing the County Reform. Candidates and elected officials brave enough to stand up for the people in this county should be applauded!

Keep Cleveland Strong!

Vote No on Issue 7 

Good News: IRS Set to Water Down Newly Proposed Free Speech Regulation

Art credit: http://lutheranprof.org/

From Katie Pavlich at Townhall:

Shortly after former IRS Director of Tax Exempt Groups Lois Lerner admitted last year that her agency had been inappropriately targeting conservative organizations, a new set of rules were proposed that would make what the IRS did to tea party groups legal and would limit the free speech of tax-exempt groups across the political spectrum. The rules specifically define "candidate related activity" as voter registration, candidate forums and debates, distribution of voter guides, discussion of incumbent voting records, simply referencing the names of candidates during meetings and more.

During the public commenting period, a record breaking 150,000 people left comment strongly suggesting the rule be completely thrown out. Conservative groups like the Tea Party Patriots and liberal groups like the ACLU are both opposed to this type of regulation on the free speech of tax-exempt groups. [emphasis added]

Now, IRS head John Koskinen plans to rewrite the previously proposed rules and will open up another public comment period once they are finished.

He said the new rule would take into account backlash from conservative Tea Party groups as well as some liberal advocacy organizations that the agency's proposal – intended to address concerns that the tax-exempt groups were engaged in partisan warfare – would bar, even voter education and registration programs.

He was interviewed on the eve of Tax Day, the April 15 deadline for Americans to file their returns.

"I think we have to take all of that into consideration," Koskinen told the weekly video newsmaker series. "There are very thoughtful comments and concerns, and one of the questions that has evoked a lot of comment is, once you define what political activity is, to what organizations should it apply in the 501(c) context and how much of it should be allowed? All of that is going to be very important."

Last week Koskinen faced tough criticism [from] Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Orrin Hatch for failing to kill of the newly proposed rules faster. The new regulation has also prompted calls for tax reform on Capitol Hill.

 # # #