For some reason a Wall Street Journal columnist, Collin Levy, has decided to defend Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) CEO John Mackey, who is under fire for pumping Whole Foods stock anonymously on Yahoo! message boards, sending emails to his company's board talking about acquiring Wild Oats as a way to eliminate competition, and just generally doing a pretty good impersonation of Patrick Byrne.

Talking about labor unions, he's said that "The union is like having herpes. It doesn't kill you, but it's unpleasant and inconvenient."

Mr. Levy would have us believe that the controversy swirling around Mackey, and the calls for his firing/resignation are payback for his union busting. But the fact is that Mackey, through sheer stupidity and arrogance, has gotten himself in trouble with the SEC, and may very well have given the FTC enough rope to stop the Wild Oats deal.

Combine that with the fact that stock is about 50% off its high, and you have to at least consider the idea that maybe it's time for new, more sane, management at Whole Foods.