McDonalds Still Under Siege!

Back in early July I posted a blog about a “Nanny State” liberal organization called the CSPI (The Center for Science in the Public Interest) called I'm Lovin' it. The CSPI threatened to sue McDonalds if they did not remove the toys from there Happy Meals. They were arguing that McDonalds shouldn’t be allowed to put toys in meals that are not healthy (healthy as deemed by them) because then their children would want to eat the unhealthy food. Look everyone knows that McDonalds isn’t the healthiest place to eat but it should be up to us what we and/or our children eat. Heaven forbid they have to say no to their children. McDonalds isn’t doing anything misleading by giving a toy.

When word of this reached the public there was a huge backlash in support of McDonalds. After this McDonalds’ CEO Jim Skinner sent a letter to the CSPI basically informing them that they would continue to include the toys and would fight them in court if they choose to do so. In light of McDonalds calling their bluff, the CSPI backed down. Or did they….

Now it would appear that the liberals have decided if they can’t beat McDonalds head on they use a back door. They have been spending a lot of money lobbying politicians to get the toys outlawed. Yes outlawed!!

Last week with an 8-3 vote the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a law banning toys to be given with Happy Meals. Mayor Gavin Newsom promised to veto this measure. However, if the 8-3 vote holds it will be enough to override his veto. They is expected to go into place in December 2011.

So it would seem that the new goal for the Nanny State wackos is get as many cities and towns to outlaw the toys as possible and then possibly a nation wide ban. What gives them the right to dictate to us what we eat? Allowing big brother to tell us what we can and can’t eat is a very dangerous and slippery slope. We cannot keep giving away our rights as individuals and parents.

For me personally I very rarely eat fast food. I train Brazilian Jiu-Jistu in Columbia Maryland and I am always watching my weight for tournaments. Because of this I know I can’t have a lot of fast food. However there are times when you are in a rush or traveling with the family and need to get some quick food at a low price. I see absolutely nothing wrong with getting fast food once in a while. It will not hurt you or make you obese to eat fast food one time and what is wrong with seeing your child’s face light up when they get a little toy. You can say that my family is the exception and that too many families eat it regularly but how is that anyone’s business but their own.

I know that many people look down on McDonalds and may not care about this but I guarantee that if we allow the government to regulate businesses in this manor it will only be a matter of time before more and more is taken away and who knows for what reason. There is already a large assault on personal freedoms from political correctness to smoking to snacks, trans-fats, salt, etc. What will be next and for what reason? You never really even know what the reason behind this is. Sometimes it’s an excuse to raise taxes and other times it might be a crazy vegetarian group much like a new report put out by the Nanny State liberal group PCRM (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine) that list milk as a junk food. Yes that’s correct they listed Milk as a junk food! The PCRM is a front for a radical vegetarian group (not a Physicians group at all) bent on scaring people away from dairy.

The bottom line is that we must do more to take on personal responsibility and stop the over regulation by our government. If you don’t want your child to eat a happy meal don’t buy it. We can’t rely on the Nanny State to protect us from everything, even ourselves.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety" - Benjamin Franklin

Personally I believe that the larger problem of obesity in America comes from lack of exercise but I should be careful saying that because they might mandate that next…

Big Brother is at it Again, Again!!

Obstructing a Police Investigation? Believe it or not this is actually a charge and it is being used to skirt the bill of rights. This is just another way Big Brother is trying to limit your rights and freedom.

In resent years we have witnessed time and time again people being arrested for crimes and then going to jail for obstructing an investigation rather then what they were arrested for in the first place. Most notably Martha Stewart, no she was not convicted of insider trading, and Scooter Libby, no he did not leak the name of a secret agent (that was actually a democrat named Richard Armitage who was never charged with anything). In Martha’s case she was charged and convicted of lying to the investigator. I am not sure what she lied about exactly but it obviously had nothing to do with insider trading since she was found innocent of that. Libby’s case on the other hand was a little more public. The worst part about Libby’s situations was he was forced to testify by a Grand Jury which is fact finding and you are not afforded 5^th amendment protections (you must answer although you can say you don’t recall). When he missed stated a date of a phone call he made a year before he was charged for lying and trying to mislead the investigation. During the investigation Richard Armitage admitted to being the leak but for some reason the grand jury proceeded.

The reason for bringing this up is I was talking to a good friend of mine that I train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with in Columbia Maryland, Dave Zwanetz. He is a criminal defense attorney and today he had a client come into his office with one of the most egregious abuses of power I have heard of in recent times by a police officer. This is even worse then the motorcyclist being arrested for video taping a traffic stop (as talked about in my blog back in July Big Brother is at it again!) Dave makes a lot of videos to help inform the public of their rights and here is the one he started for this incident.

I cannot believe that this happened and can only hope that Dave’s client sues the crap out of this officer once the case is thrown out. Or even better I hope that this leads to the officer being fired for his criminal abuse of power. This needs to be fought all the way. If we let one officer get away with this what will stop others from doing the same!

“Well the election didn’t go that well for me here in Maryland but nation wide we did pretty well. We took the house...” was the response I gave when my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor asked me about the election results at my Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland. He then asked, “Why do you say WE when the republicans do well, when you say you are a Libertarian?”

The simple fact of the matter is that when I say we I mean we as a nation, including my instructor who is neither a Republican nor Libertarian. It is no secret that I am a conservative Libertarian. So from my prospective the closer the country pulls to those views the better for everyone.

On the ballot in my district there were only two Libertarians both of which I voted for and both of which lost. I do vote for a lot of Republicans but that’s usually only when the alternative is the Fascist that call themselves Democrats or when they are more like a Libertarian then a Republican. I have even been known to vote for the constitutional party as well (which I did and he also lost. lol). However nation wide a lot of libertarians and Libertarianesque Republicans won. A lot of new school small government Libertarianesque republicans also took seats in the house (Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ken Buck, & Ron Johnson to name a few).

For this election even if no small government Republicans had been elected it still would have been good for all Americans. Currently the Democrats have been running amuck in DC. Controlling both houses and the presidency is never good (just look at the Bush years). There needs to be checks and balances. One party cannot be in total control.

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.” John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834-1902)

If we can get gridlock in DC it would be a very good thing for everyone. The only fear is if the two parties start working together. There is an old saying that I am not exactly sure of its origin but supposedly was told by a republican staffer to a group of Russian legislators.

“In America, we have a two-party system. There is the stupid party and there is the evil party. I am proud to be a member of the stupid party. Periodically, the two parties get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. This is called bipartisanship.”

So yes we did do well nation wide, at least seemingly so. Only time will tell. But… no my political party did not…

Election Day is here again! I must say I do love Election Day. They should make this a paid holiday. You can truly experience the full range of emotions from exciting to anxiety, filled with joy to plain pissed off. The only other thing that gets me this excited is doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at the Mixed Martial Arts School in Columbia Maryland were I train.

It can be very exhausting waiting to see if the candidates you voted for win, especially when you allow yourself to be emotionally invested like I do. For many people this is their big chance to help make a difference that only comes once every couple years.

I always try to do my part (Voting, Boycotting, Protesting) even though often it feels like my efforts are in vain. I honestly think that I would feel worse if I did not even try.

This year I have been more optimistic then I have been in a long time. The polls are showing that many small government candidates have a shot at getting in (both Libertarian and Tea Party type Republican candidates). People who seemingly want to make a difference and not just want to be apart of the old school establishment. I have even seen Democrats running on a Libertarian platform. Of course it will be an up hill battle even if they do win and you never know if they will stay true to their word but there is a huge groundswell in this country supporting small government. It is clear that people are getting sick of the politics in Washington D.C. and this may be our chance to make a difference.

Well my wife and I have already voted so now it’s just a waiting game. I am very anxious to find out the results. Here in Maryland we have a couple big races but it’s always tough. Maryland is almost two to one Democrat so that the fact these races are even close is a miracle. Even most of the Democrats that I know are fed up. So much so that they are either voting Republican or they have said that they are not voting at all. However, I know that that is only anecdotal and not to mention that Baltimore is well known for voter fraud (the dead always vote and Baltimore always goes Democrat).

So I will just wait and see and hope and pray for the best like everyone else.