Posted on 05/29/2012 11:42:51 AM PDT by Theoria
Cooksey v. Futrell, et al.
Can the government throw you in jail for offering advice on the Internet about what food people should buy at the grocery store?
That is exactly the claim made by the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition. In December 2011, diabetic blogger Steve Cooksey started a Dear Abby-style advice column on his popular blog (www.diabetes-warrior.net) to answer reader questions. One month later, the State Board informed Steve that he could not give readers advice on diet, whether for free or for compensation, because doing so constituted the unlicensed, and thus criminal, practice of dietetics. The State Board also told Steve that his private emails and telephone calls with readers and friends were illegal, as was his paid life-coaching service. The State Board went through Steve's writings with a red pen, indicating what he may and may not say without a government-issued license.
But the First Amendment does not allow the government to ban people from sharing ordinary advice about diet, or scrub the Internet—from blogs to Facebook to Twitter—of speech the government does not like. North Carolina can no more force Steve to become a licensed dietitian than it could require Dear Abby to become a licensed psychologist.
That is why on May 30, 2012, Steve Cooksey joined the Institute for Justice in filing a major free speech lawsuit against the State Board in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division. This lawsuit seeks to answer one of the most important unresolved questions in First Amendment law: When does the government's power to license occupations trump free speech?
| . | IJ client Steve Cooksey |
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Health blogger threatened with jail time for advocating Paleo diet that cured his diabetes
http://www.naturalnews.com/035691_dieticians_free_speech_nutrition_advice.html
I find it interesting this guy cured his diabetes with the paleo diet because a doctor, Dr. Terry Wahls, who had Multiple Sclerosis cured it with the same diet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc
Who knows what else the paleo diet can help!
This reminds me of the case down in Florida, where a retired dentist’s house was raided and he arrested because he was adjusting the dentures of the old folks that lived in his retirement community free of charge. His “crime” as I recall was not following proper state billing and patient documentation procedures as required by the state dental board (in another words some other dentists got pissed because he was doing for free what they would charge big bucks for).
Interesting....
Actual health care ain't even a distant second.
Well, I started eating paleo about 4 weeks ago and I’ve lost 10 pounds and my chronic heartburn is clearing up.
This diet so goes against the government’s food pyramid.
I've always been a fan of a big serving of ribs.
Here’s some free dietary and medical advice - don’t drink drain cleaner.
Thousand years in jail for you, courtesy of the liberty loving United States.
Three squares and no bills to pay. Not too shabby!
And I chowed down on some really good baby back pork ribs over memorial day.
Though they weren’t quite Flintstones big :-)
Very interesting...
I guess those of us who come across something that works for us and tell others in an environment like this are no longer supposed to do that according to some folks, more than likelyu not effected by this disease...
What is really funny, I have accepted that I am responsible for my affliction, and that I taqke responsibility for what I do to correct the problem...
Some people haven’t gotten that far in the process...
It will take a lifestyle change, and one that may take the rest of my life to figure out and correct...My perfect day may be the last one I have with y’all...
And I accept that...
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