Bush Oblivious to the Economy
so much news - so little time to post, but here's a bit I couldn't resist:Today the Bush Administration sent it's officials out to tout how great the US economy is doing. Interesting, considering today also marked the
biggest stock market drop in three years. That's a far cry from Treasury Secretary
John Snow's claim that "By virtue of every index of economic performance, we're going the right way." In apparent contradiction to reality, "U.S. stocks tumbled to their biggest loss in nearly three years on Friday as oil prices surged to four-month highs, and downbeat earnings from Citigroup Inc.
and General Electric Co. signaled a slowing economy."(emphasis added)
Darfur - Send a Letter to Bush
The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has started a campaign to send letters to Bush calling for action on the Darfur genocide. I have no idea how I got on their email list, but it is a great resource.
Please take action today, let's have Bush's mailbox overflowing!
Government to cheat consumers out of Hybrid tax credits
It seems the congress once again out one past the American people by having the EPA push a proposal that is little more than a thinly veiled item from lobbyists' wish lists. Starting with 2008 models the proposal would drop the fuel economy rating 10 to 20 percent for city driving and 5 to 15 percent in highway driving. But here's the real scoop:
Gas-electric hybrids would be more affected, with ratings for city driving decreasing an average of 20 percent to 30 percent. Those models are due to appear in showrooms in the fall of 2007.
The EPA's new fuel-economy estimates, the first revision in 20 years, include vehicle-specific data from tests to reflect more accurately high-speed driving, rapid acceleration, use of air conditioning and cold temperatures, the agency said.
Odd isn't it? Do regular cars get better fuel efficiency than hybrids? Ask anyone with a hybrid, no they don't. But with the EPA's new estimates you would think they were a lot closer to even. Also suspect, the EPA hasn't revised standards in 20 years and suddenly decided that it was time to revise them now? Oh that's right, they reviewed the standards because it was included in Bush's energy bill that was passed last year.
Also interesting, the
energy bill of 2005 gave a tax credit to hybrid vehicle buyers based on what? That's right, fuel economy!! Hybrid sales only represent 2% of the auto industry revenues so it seems hardly likely that it's the auto industry that lobbied congress and the administration for this. No, my bet would be on the oil industry. After all, if you get better gas mileage you'll buy less gas and they won't have another year of record profits. When you look at the figures, companies like
Exxon's profits grew by 42% in just the last quarter of 2005! Ridiculously record profits.
Money over Health
I couldn't help but comment on an article in today's USA Today
"Next frontier in heart disease: Undoing it." In the article, USA Today accurately portrays the perspective of the major pharmaceutical companies' spin doctors (aka public relations people). Having been one myself, it's fairly easy to spot. But what makes this article outrageous is that there is already scientific proof on reversing heart disease. It's been done, it's been repeated and there are people out there who can testify to it. Just read
Dr. Dean Ornish's book, the
McDougall plan, and T. Collin Campbell's latest
The China Study. We have found a way to reverse heart disease people, it's not a new frontier.
Of course the USA TODAY article doesn't mention any of these discoveries. And why is that? That's right, they are achieved through diet. After all, how much money are you going to make off of people by telling them to do things like eat whole grains, don't eat fat and don't eat processed foods. And *gasp* go vegan or at least vegetarian. Not nearly as much as Pfizer, Bruin Pharmaceuticals, or any drug company stands to make off a magic pill that would allow you to continue all of your bad health habits without having to worry. Much like the recent proliferation of hang-over cures like Chaser that supposedly will let you drink all you want and not get a hang-over.
Of course they don't work. If you drink too much bad stuff you will get sick, if you eat too much bad stuff you will get sick. Simple rules that we're spending millions of dollars to find "cures" for that will allow us to continue our bad habits without suffering the consequences. But why isn't that message being reinforced by our society and our government health organizations? Simple - Money. Yes, that's right, money.
"The next frontier" also is probably the richest potential market in medicine. Seventy million people in the USA alone have heart disease. Heart disease is the nation's leading killer; it accounts for 900,000 heart attacks and strokes each year, the American Heart Association says.
Drugs that lower cholesterol and other blood fats are the world's biggest sellers, with nearly $27 billion in sales in 2004, up 12% from the year before, according to the firm IMS Health, which tracks the drug industry. Lipitor leads the pack; it had sales of more than $10 billion and growth of 14% in 2004.
That would be a lot of money for the pharmaceutical industry to lose if people started getting better, wouldn't it?
Also of interest is that the reporter from the USA TODAY piece, Steven Sternberg, also wrote a scathing piece about Doctors getting kick-backs from pharmaceutical companies for giving out prescriptions.
Check out the 1993 story at Mother Jones. For further info on this subject, I highly recommend
Toxic Sludge is Good for You and
Trust Us, We're Experts.
UN Pulling out of Darfur
Bad news for the people of Darfur. Although the UN has declared what is occurring in Darfur a Genocide, they are being forced to evacuate most of their staff because of the escalating violence. The United States also called what is occurring in Darfur a genocide and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice requested increased funds for the state department to aid in Darfur. However, the US Congress rejected her plea and did not allocate additional funding for Darfur.
Congress rejected U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's impassioned appeal to provide $50 million for African troops trying to keep peace in Sudan's Darfur region, the State Department said on Monday.
U.S. funding for about 6,000 African Union peacekeepers ends this year and the State Department is concerned that violence in Darfur will only get worse if more money is not found to keep the mission going.
How far we've come from the oft repeated "Never Again."
Even worse, the violence threatens to pour over into Chad as rebels on both sides of the Chad/Sudan border are making raids.
Several rebel groups last week said they were banding together to topple Chadian President Idriss Deby.
Deby accuses the Sudanese government in Khartoum of backing them and has urged the United Nations to take over Darfur's administration. Khartoum denies any involvement.
The decision to restrict staffing "does not mean there will be an overall evacuation," U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
"Essential life-saving humanitarian services delivered by the U.N. will continue, and the mission will monitor the situation and carry out a fresh security assessment of the area in the next two to three weeks," Dujarric said.
The move was "due to the increased instability in the affected areas, including a buildup of forces on ether side of the Sudan-Chad border, with increased potential for armed conflict," he said.
The border tensions have further complicated a debilitating civil war that has raged in Darfur since February 2003, pitting Sudanese rebels against government forces.
Tens of thousands have been killed and 2 million have left their homes for camps in Sudan and Chad to flee the fighting.
The area now hosts one of the world's largest humanitarian operations, with more than 11,000 aid workers struggling to feed, clothe and shelter inhabitants.
The Sudanese rebels began fighting to pressure the Arab-dominated central government to respond to the needs of Darfur's villagers. U.N. officials say Khartoum then armed Arab militias to fight the rebels, and that the militias launched a campaign of rape, killing and looting that continues to this day.
So Please, write your
representative or
senator today and urge them to fund the peace keeping missions in Darfur.
Not sure what to say? Take a look at
Sen. Barack Obama's letter that was printed in the Washington Post:
It is essential that the Bush administration shift its approach to confront the new and mounting challenges. Only the United States, working in concert with key nations, has the leverage and resources to persuade Khartoum to change its ways:
First, the administration must help transform the African Union protection force into a sizable, effective multinational force.
In the near term, Washington must pressure Khartoum to allow more advisers from Western nations to embed within the African Union's mission so they support intelligence, logistics and communications. It must work with other nations to provide military assets to African Union forces, such as attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers, so they can respond immediately to attacks. And it must urge the African Union to be more aggressive in protecting civilians. More important, Washington must immediately spearhead efforts to create a larger multinational force. The African Union has begun discussions with the United Nations about folding itself into a follow-on U.N. mission, but because of the West's reluctance to offend African sensibilities, all parties seem resigned to muddling along. It has become clear that a U.N.- or NATO-led force is required, and the administration must use diplomacy to override Chinese and Sudanese opposition to such a force and persuade outside troops to join it.
Second, the administration must keep up the pressure on the rebels to unite their negotiating positions, and it must enlist Sudan's allies to increase the pressure on Khartoum to share power and resources.
Third, the United States and other nations must place additional pressure on key nations -- Chad, Eritrea and Libya -- to stop playing a destructive role in the conflict.
Fourth, the administration needs to place its weight behind the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which would impose targeted sanctions on the leading perpetrators of the genocide.
The Bush administration has helped reduce suffering in Darfur, but the situation is dangerously adrift. And when the history of this tragedy is written, nobody will remember how many times officials visited the region or how much humanitarian aid was delivered. They will only remember the death toll.
