After reading Gail Collins’ Op-Ed (see previous post) in the NYT this morning I read Bob Herbert’s Holding On to Our Humanity and should have been utterly nauseated by the horrible crimes he describes happening in Darfur. That I wasn’t shows that I have become inured to hearing about this sort of thing. What can we do about it? I feel utterly impotent to act, to know what to do. How can mankind be so vicious to its own? I don’t know where to begin on this.
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Tags: bob herbert, Darfur, Gail Collins, mankind, NYT
Nobel prize winner in economics, Paul Krugman, has another good Op-Ed in the NYT this morning. I’ve been reading the comments to his article and found one I think is spot on and one-ups Paul. Here it is:
Dr. Krugman, without digging through dozens of books and articles, and hundreds of email newsletters and posts, I can’t say exactly how many I’ve read predicting both the current American disaster and explicating the stupid and selfish policies of the I.M.F., World Bank, and our Fed and financial system. America was drunk on power and self-satisfaction. Mr. Bush and his “team” — if that’s what we could call an emaciated shell of neocons and the likes of Greenspan and Paulson — were not borrowing from Peter to pay Paul but robbing both to support their bogus wars and pie-in-the-sky budgets. They deliberately pumped up the price of real-estate and allowed a reverse salami-tactic to add small slices of greed until finally the whole cancerous mess exploded in our and the world’s face.
Of course every word you write tonight makes sense, but I didn’t see the worst miscreants even mentioned. Yes, Rubin, Greenspan, and Summers were there about two-thirds of the way through the build-up of the house of cards, which began during Reagan’s first year in office. And, yes, they were blind to the disaster they were pushing further down the path. Mr. Clinton, who was so compromised after the CIA/Contra operation in Arkansas, was further weakened by scandal and Newt Gingrich, such that he stopped being a Democrat and rolled over to be an Eisenhower Republican (lite). Then along came liar George Bush, 9/11 (which somehow happened despite numerous warnings), the use of 9/11 as a pretext for what Mr. Bush had in mind all along, and the American people fat-dumb-and-happy from all the prosperity of the exploding housing market, which turned perhaps half the homes in the country into giant ATMs.
It is no wonder that Europeans don’t respect us, that U.S. G-20 efforts will be met with resistance. The one thing you say tonight with which I disagree is: “even when — as in this case — the Americans are right.” Perhaps from a purely economic perspective we’re more right than the Europeans, which is to say that they should make stronger stimulus efforts. Certainly you’re correct in saying that the whole world needs to pull together, especially the G-20 nations. But if we are deranged enough to think we can continue to wage war (or peace, or whatever today’s euphemism is) in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintain some 800 military bases around the world, be the de facto world cop, and march relentlessly ahead with our military budget, why would Europeans and others respect us? If we can’t simply pass a few laws about automobile mileage and emission standards and then enforce them, why would Europeans think we could lead the world economy? If we can’t figure out a way to shift to an economy based more on production and less on consumption — especially of foreign-made goods, again we can see why others are cynical about the U.S.’s ability to lead.
The ultimately ugly truth is that we are too hypocritical as a nation to be taken seriously by others. If a child’s parents are on drugs, they’d best not lecture the child about not using drugs.
— Butler Crittenden, San Francisco, CA
Tags: Butler Crittenden, Europeans, financial system, G-20, military bases, NYT, paul krugman, stimulus
Bob Hebert has another great Op-Ed in the NYT this morning. He points out that what is needed are jobs, jobs, jobs! Tax cuts for individuals and businesses won’t achieve that. Here’s what Herbert says:
The economy will not be saved by putting a pitiful $500 into the hands of the average taxpayer. And it won’t be saved by gift-wrapped concessions to the G.O.P. in the form of business tax cuts that the president-elect is said to be considering.
So how do we create jobs?
And the way to create jobs is through infrastructure investments (building and repairing roads, bridges, tunnels and water and sewer systems); and by investing in 21st-century clean energy initiatives, in public transportation systems, and in school construction; and by providing access to health care for the millions who don’t have it.
Let’s hope Obama doesn’t get hooked by the madness of “trickle down” in his search for the bipartisan solution. With the present slate of Republicans — Mitch McConnell and company — bipartisanship may be impossible.
Tags: bipartisan solution, bob hebert, clean energy, infrastructure investments, mitch mcconnell, NYT, public transportation systems, school construction, tax cuts, trickle down
Paul Krugman is back with a great op-ed in Monday morning’s NYT. Here’s the point of his piece, taken from the second paragraph:
But there’s a problem: conservative politicians, clinging to an out-of-date ideology — and, perhaps, betting (wrongly) that their constituents are relatively well positioned to ride out the storm — are standing in the way of action.
There are already a goodly number of comments on Paul’s piece. Here’s one comment that sums up the situation perfectly in my estimation:
As a historian, I am utterly shocked by the response to this economic crisis by Conservative Republicans in Washington and Chancellor Merkel’s response in Germany. What planet are these people on? Have they ever opened up a history book? I hate to say it but it almost seems as if these people have absolutely lost their minds. Here in the U.S., I do feel that these Republicans are simply trying to score political points with their out-of-date ideology by killing another powerful labor union. Meanwhile, the middle class continues to shrink at an alarming rate. Companies like the Big 3 and other major manufacturers provide this country with thousands and thousands of middle-class decent paying jobs. However, all I hear from Republicans at my university and everywhere else is that any intervention is “socialism” or “communism” or part of some internationalist conspiracy for one world government. The Red Scare is over people and McCarthy has long been dead. Why do we keep bringing back these McCarthyist rants during these times of crisis? The truth is these economic conservatives have absolutely no clue what it is like working in a factory and being on the bottom of the ladder, struggling to make ends meet every month. All they want to do is criticize workers for wanting to make a decent wage that actually keeps up with inflation. What is wrong with that? Of course, these Conservative Republicans would have no problem voting for a raise for themselves. But at the second a poor man comes to them for help or wanting health care, they stick their noses in the air. Mr. Krugman, I hate to say this but if something is not done soon with this economic situation, this country is going to fall apart beyond description. What will it take for these people to understand the situation? Do people literally have to be starving to death in the streets, fighting for food, jumping out of windows, killing themselves in their forclosed homes before they notice the problem? I mean come on: it came out the other day that we have been in a recession since December of 2007….it took them this long to notice and fess up? We need to start acting with depression economics now before it is too late. It is time for a Kenyesian revolution now more than ever. The solution is staring in the face of not just the United States but the entire international community as a whole. Why will they not accept that their completely free-market ideology has failed them?
— Matt, Ball State University
Right! Their completely free-market ideology has failed them! And us! Let’s take some action. But we’re still in that state of limbo until Bush finally goes. 
Tags: chancellor merkel, communism, conservative republicans, economic conservatives, economic crisis, free-market ideology, limbo, middle class, NYT, paul krugman, socialism
I spotted an article in the NYT online today, The Evidence Gap: The Minimal Impact of a Big Hypertension Study which at first I thought I’d bypass but then decided, what the heck, I’ll read it. Toward the end of the first page I suddenly came across mention of my least favorite medication, Cardura.
The article is about a massive hypertension study called ALLHAT, short for Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial.
The purpose of the ALLHAT was to compare four drugs for effectiveness on people over age 55, a diuretic called chlorthalidone; an ACE inhibitor called lisinopril; a calcium channel blocker called amlodipine; and an alpha blocker called doxazosin, which Pfizer sold as Cardura.
Ah, there’s my old “friend”, Cardura — who was supposed to keep me from peeing in the night but instead knocked me out cold — as part of a big study. What did they find out about it?, I wondered.
Well. I didn’t have to wait long for the answer. Here’s the very next paragraph in the article:
Pfizer’s bet on Cardura proved a big mistake. As the Allhat data came in, patients taking Cardura were nearly twice as likely as those receiving the diuretic to require hospitalization for heart failure, a condition in which the heart cannot pump blood adequately. Concerned, the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute announced in March 2000 that it had stopped the Cardura part of the trial. Ha ha. Cardura went out in 2000 and yet I take it in 2008. Amazing!
Perhaps the reason I took that Cardura pill on November 1, 2008, was that Pfizer didn’t like losing its bet on Cardura and fought back like a giant corporation. They managed to defeat a lawsuit by two patients who then went the route of a Citizen Petition. Read all about it here.
The Citizen Petition brought the FDA into the fray, a year after the original findings of the ALLHAT. Some of the outside experts at the FDA meeting claimed the ALLHAT data were not accurate while other experts disagreed. The FDA considered the net result a wash, and so, no warning was issued to doctors and patients about Cardura.
Well, I’d like to issue my own warning!
Here ye! Here ye! Here ye! I, Marden H. Seavey, issue my own warning about the dangerous medication Cardura. It caused me to faint and crash on our bathroom floor injuring my back and rib cage musculature, and I’m still sore a month later.
Worse, the little 2mg Cardura pill lowered my heart rate into the 30’s which worried the doctors at the hospital until the rate finally recovered. This was about eight hours after I had passed out. A cardiovascular specialist has given me thoroughgoing tests (echo cardiogram and Holter monitor for 24 hours), and now declares I don’t have to see him for a year.
His warning to me: Just don’t take Cardura!
Tags: ace inhibitor, alpha blocker, amlodipine, antihypertensive, calcium channel blocker, cardura, chlorthalidone, citizen petition, diuretic, doxazosin, giant corporation, heart attack trial, heart failure, hypertension study, lisinopril, NYT
At last! Liberals are getting the praise they should be getting! Thanks to the Op-Ed, Hold Your Heads Up, in the NYT this morning by Bob Herbert! Let me say right out front: Anything good that’s happened in America has been the result of the actions of liberals!
Do I exaggerate? Not at all. I am sick and tired of the lousy media we have in this country supporting the claims of the right wing loonies, the poisonous mythologies they’ve been spreading, especially since that phony actor, Ronald Reagan got into power, but even before.
Well, Bob Herbert gives the many reasons why liberals are the ones that have been responsible for any greatness this country has achieved. He expresses it better than I. Give him a gander!
Oh, and here’s the link to the comments on his Op-Ed.
Also, Eric Alterman has a great book out, Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America. Eric’s another person proud to be a liberal. So, liberal friends, let’s not hide our heads under bushels of right wing propaganda! Let’s emerge into the daylight!!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tags: bob herbert, eric alterman, liberals, NYT, right wing propaganda, ronald reagan
OK, OK, too many posts on Sarah Palin! I promise this will be my last one. (I hope…) The NYT Op-Ed by that old neocon, Bill Kristol has already garnered over 200 overwhelmingly negative comments, this morning. The main thrust of his article is that Sarah Palin will win all the “Wal-Mart Mom” votes and that she herself is a “Wal-Mart Mom”!
Tags: Bill Kristol, NYT, sarah palin
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