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On Wednesday, July 11, 2007 the House passed HR.2900 without allowing the Ron Paul (R-TX) amendments to protect dietary supplements. Representatives Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), John Dingell (D-MI), Henry Waxman (D-CA), and others falsely proclaimed that they were doing America a favor by passing this sweeping FDA-supported legislation that grants the rouge agency more power and money, and even transforms it into a quasi drug company.

Both the House and Senate (S.1082) have made the fatally flawed assumption that the reason for so many deaths and injuries from drugs was due to the FDA's lack of resources. In reality, it is the INTENTION of FDA management that is the problem, combined with the simple fact that multiple drugs are extremely toxic and don't work as advertised. Giving the FDA more power and money will only cause the agency to speed more drugs onto the market faster with even less safety testing -- while abusing its power and actively stamping out competition to drugs.

[Source Article]

On July 11, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 2900, blocking debate on the law and preventing the introduction of any amendments that might have provided meaningful drug safety protections for consumers. This action demonstrates that the House of Representatives, much like the Senate, is utterly controlled by Big Pharma and has abandoned any responsibility to defend the interests of the voters. Drug companies now have complete control over the U.S. Congress, and through a campaign of intense lobbying and financial influence, they have managed to easily water down a law that once proposed to end the American monopoly on pharmaceuticals and ban advertising on new drugs.

Instead of placing new restrictions on Big Pharma and the increasingly dangerous power of the FDA, this new law (a combination of HR.2900 and S.1082, when it is hammered out in conference) grants more power to the FDA while deepening the financial ties between the agency and drug companies. The law effectively surrenders America to a system of medical tyranny under which a criminally-operated FDA will continue to promote pharmaceuticals, censor nutritional education and discredit alternatives that threaten drug company profits. Nothing in the new law protects consumers' access to dietary supplements or natural medicine.

Congress had the potential to pass a really good law here -- one that would have ended direct-to-consumer advertising, banned conflicts of interest at the FDA, required the open source publication of drug trials and ended the U.S. monopoly on pharmaceuticals. Instead, Congress chose to do none of these things. It staged a song and dance about "FDA reform" while selling out the future of America's health to a tiny but powerful group of ultra-wealthy corporations that now virtually rule this country. There is nothing in the new law worth celebrating unless, of course, you are the CEO or major shareholder of a Big Pharma corporation, in which case you will like be stunned at just how cheaply and easily U.S. lawmakers can be bought.

[Source Article]

EMERGENCY ALERT! House Set to Vote to Allow FDA to Eliminate Vitamin Companies!
[Printable PDF Flyer]

As we reported earlier, the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is boldly working to regulate your health care choices down to the level of third world countries; in effect, health-care rationing, as envisioned for you by your government and Codex. The Senate has passed (S. 1082, by a vote of 93-1) legislation which grants the FDA authority to regulate "food and food ingredients." Today, July 10th, the House is poised to take testimony on the companion bill, H.R.2900 (presented unanimously out of committee) followed by a forced vote! You Must Take Immediate Action to STOP THIS, or You Will Lose Your HEALTH FREEDOM!

Call Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for Jerry Moran (KS-1st), Nancy Boyda (KS-2nd), Dennis Moore (KS-3rd), or Todd Tiahrt (KS-4).

Direct Contact Info
Jerry Moran (KS-1st, Repub.)
202-225-2715 (DC Phone) - 202-225-5124 (DC Fax) - E-Mail Form
Nancy Boyda (KS-2nd, Dem.)
202-225-6601 (DC Phone) - 202-225-7986 (DC Fax) - E-Mail Form
Dennis Moore (KS-3rd, Dem.)
202-225-2865 (DC Phone) - 202-225-2807 (DC Fax) - E-Mail Form
Todd Tiahrt (KS-4th, Repub.)
202-225-6216 (DC Phone) - 202-225-3489 (DC Fax) - E-Mail Form

FULL STORY

The Reform of the United States of America, through its National Committee, sponsors and endorses a symbolic Summer National Gas Boycott, extending through Aug. 31, 2007 and asks all who are alarmed by the unprecedented gas prices and gas price increases which appear to have little relation to crude oil prices, to join the Reform Party of the United States of America ("RPUSA") and participate in this Summer expression of public outrage by boycotting all gasoline purchases from all major oil companies and purchasing only from independent or locally owned gas stations.

A public press release notice of the endorsement of this Summer 2007 gas boycott is authorized and directed by the RPUSA National Committee for immediate media distribution, e-mail reflector, and website publication by the RPUSA.

All other responsible RPUSA Committees are discharged of this matter.

Those (so called) champions of less government,
Farm Bureau and NCBA,
Are creating a new monster
in collusion with the USDA.

Call it animal ID or insane delusion
or whatever you please,
Cost of implementation
will bring ranchers to the knees.

ID cost the Australians
$37.28 per head just last year.
Of course, NCBA's glib spokesmen
say we have nothing to fear.

In Farm Bureau promotions
they claim it's just another tool.
I say if you believe that
You're certainly a fool.

The IRS just keeps smiling;
they'll figure taxes when the calves are born.
And ranchers meekly sign up
just like sheep getting shorn.

The dog and cat food deaths from wheat gluten imported from China should, but won't, change people's minds on free trade.

It's all about money. In fact, USDA paid US wheat gluten producers millions to offset losses from imports. Smart, huh?

"Midwest Grain" of Atchison, KS, annual report showed 3 years of payments.

Thanks, Taxpayers.

Recently I had the opportunity to question Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he appeared before the congressional Joint Economic committee. The topic that morning was the state of the American economy, and many of my colleagues raised questions about how the Fed might better "regulate" things to ease fears of an economic downturn. The tenor of my colleagues' questions suggested that Mr. Bernanke's job is nothing less than to run the U.S. economy, like some kind of Soviet central planner.

Certainly its true that Mr. Bernanke can drastically affect the economy at the drop of a hat, simply by making decisions about the money supply and interest rates. But why do members of Congress assume this is good? Why do we accept without objection that a small group of people on the Federal Reserve Board wields so much power over our economic well-being? Is centralized, monopoly control over our money even compatible with a supposedly free-market economy?

Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general. But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued

Full article here: http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul380.html

Four decades ago, Italian immigrant Mario Piccolino landed in Scranton via the Bronx and opened a pizzeria. He knew nobody and spoke little English -- but his pizza shop not only survived, it thrived.

Today, Buona Pizza has a large, loyal following, and remains a downtown landmark even as many other stores have fled to the suburbs. The Piccolino family -- Mario and his brother, and now their sons -- thought they'd stay in business another 40 years.

But the city has other ideas.

Mayor Chris Doherty wants to seize Buona Pizza ("The best in town since 1966") through eminent domain and give the real estate to a politically connected developer as part of a $20 million redevelopment project along Lackawanna Avenue, one of the city's main thoroughfares.

Source Article: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ news/cityregion/s_500617.html

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