A few weeks ago we told you about J. Dudley Butler, the former (and future) trial lawyer who spent his career suing the very industry he has been appointed by President Obama to regulate.

He’s currently working in the Agriculture Department as Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) and, according to former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, “Butler is actively pushing to expand the scope of the decades-old Packers and Stockyards Act — which will make it easier for trial lawyers (such as Mr. Butler) to successfully sue meat and poultry companies.”

Last week this piece in The Daily Caller looked into the conflict of interest and concluded, “Whether or not J. Dudley Butler is implementing rules that will help him and his friends in their legal cases is something for time to judge. But the fact that he is in a position to do so, to aid his cause and line his pockets when he returns to the private sector, is enough to call for his resignation.”

Conservatives calling attention to the conflict of interest of a liberals Administration’s political appointees is not new, nor is the reverse. But this cause has been joined…

CREW, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal government watch-dog group, has joined the fight.

In a press release Monday, CREW asked “Is a former trial lawyer turned government official making policy decisions at the Department of Agriculture that will serve his future personal financial interests?” We don’t often agree with CREW, but in this case they are correct.

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First Lady, Michelle Obama, has decided to take a whack at solving the American obesity epidemic. Splendid.

She should start by looking at one of the biggest roots of the problem: liberal government and its most favorite project of the past 40 years, the welfare state.

There is a surprising, yet undeniable, correlation between skyrocketing obesity rates and race and socioeconomic status. The group most disproportionately affected by obesity is poor black women.

A survey of the available research on obesity was conducted in 2004 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Human Nutrition. Among the results:

• The U.S. obesity prevalence increased from 13 percent to 32 percent between the 1960s and 2004.
• Women 20–34 years old had the fastest increase rate of obesity and overweight.
• 80% of black women aged 40 years or over are overweight; 50% are obese.
• Less educated people have a higher prevalence of obesity than their counterparts.
• 16% of children and adolescents are overweight and 34% are at risk of becoming overweight in 2003-2004.
• White children and adolescents had the lowest prevalence of overweight and being at risk of overweight compared with their black and Mexican counterparts.

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