Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch . . .
ACTION ITEM:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is threatening cherry growers with fines and legal action for daring to publicize peer-reviewed scientific studies demonstrating the health benefits of cherries. According to the FDA’s warped view of the world this makes cherries drugs that must undergo FDA testing before public statements can be made about their benefits.
This is stupidity on steroids. Though we must hasten to add that the safety of using steroids to make bureaucratic stupidity even more stupid has not yet been evaluated by the FDA.
Fortunatelly, not everyone in government is so idiotic. A bill has been introduced in the House to stop the FDA from taking action against people who publicize peer-reviewed scientific studies about the health benefits of agricultural products. The bill is HR 4282, the Health Freedom Protection Act. We need to support this bill with all our might. To send Congress a message supporting HR 4282 click here.
To set a new record in March for messages to Congress we need to send about 1,400 messages per day, so please participate. And to set a new recruitment record we need about 100 new Downsizers per day. This will be a tough goal to reach, so please forward this message to anyone you can think of who cares about health freedom. Or use the “tell a friend” system on the web-page for this campaign.
RTBA COALITION GROWS:
We’d like to congratulate super-blogger Ed Brayton, of “Dispatches from the Culture Wars,” for being the first to join the Read the Bills Act Coalition. Ed’s blog is one of the top 1,000 most-visited on the web. It is published by Seed.com, a major new science magazine. Ed has also been a frequent guest on Jim Babka’s radio show. His blog covers a wide range of topics, but those on this list may be most interested in his highly informed and informative commentary on Constitutional law. We encourage you to check him out and consider adding him to your reading list. Also check out the RTBA Coalition button he’s placed on his site. You can do so here.
One other thing is notable about our relationship with Ed Brayton. Our fearless leader, Jim Babka, is an evangelical Christian. Ed Brayton and myself are non-believers. We all get along and work toward common goals. This is at the heart of what Downsize DC is trying to do. Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, Democrats, Republicans, believers, and skeptics — all are joining together in Downsize DC to promote common values. The partisan political debate in this country promotes the idea that we have no common values. We think this is wrong. There is so much that unites us, if only we will focus on it. Recognizing this truth is the key to making the future better than the past. We even welcome . . .
Boat owners. The second member of the new RTBA Coalition publishes a blog about his boat. We don’t know how much traffic his site gets, but we sure like seeing that RTBA banner at the top of the page. You can check it out here.
FUTURE ACTION:
Sometime in the next few days, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, we’re going to start asking you to email your favorite blogs, asking them to join the RTBA Coalition. So get ready. Start thinking about blogs you might want to contact.
OUR GAS TANK:
We made our February fundraising goal. Thank you. Our March goal is $14,000. We got an early start on it yesterday, raising $210. Thank you Ronald G Holley, Herbert Johnson, John Kleiner, Nancy Woods, Robert P. Lidra, and Kay Samalin.
Special thanks to Gary Decker and Nancy Woods for starting monthly pledges. If you would like to make a contribution or start a monthly pledge you can do so here.
That’s all for today. Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.