Pictures say a thousand words….this one speaks as no words can: http://www.commondreams.org/further/2013/04/28
I’m watching Kathleen Sharp on BookTV (yay, Book TV) that has written a book called Blood Medicine about a cancer drug, Epo, that did a great job of helping red blood cells to grow….
….unfortunately, it also helps cancer cells to grow.
Yes, yes, it is freaking amazing that this drug is on the market with serious issues such as suspected of killing people.
The operation was a success. But the patient died.
Sharp describes a cancer patient was helped by the drug with his cancer fight, but died because he began bleeding out the nose and mouth.
Sharp is adamant against pharmaceutical companies being able to advertise on Tv. I believe she said that we and perhaps another country are the only developed countries that allow these commercials.
In Communications, they go to great lengths in order to sell the product. Advertising agencies will do a study of the targeted audience to see how to construct the message for the best impact — i.e., to get the target audience to request it from their doctors. or perhaps I should say demand it from their doctors. They are convinced by slick advertising that *this* drug will help them get healthy again. As someone who has been *there*, it really doesn’t take much in convincing if you’re so ill that you would do almost anything to regain your health. Sharp didn’t even touch on the fact that these doctors who are prescribing these drugs, may be invested in these companies, and therefore, have a financial interest to prescribe these drugs. I’ve seen how pharma works –they are not legally supposed to buy doctors lunches and other gifts….so they have “information sessions” and just happen to have it during the lunch hour….and have lunch brought in. Ahem.
A sunshine law is part of the Obama health plan. We’ll see if it does any good. I’m pessimistic because the whole culture surrounding the FDA and the pharm industry and the billion dollar lobbying by Big Pharma…
More history here.
And here. How can we forget Bush appointment, Dr. Hager, and his ex-wife’s allegations of marital rape?
Sharp mentions the revolving door between the pharm industry and the FDA.
A man calling himself John calls in and is identifying himself as a neonatalogist whom immediately states that Sharp has “poorly researched” her book. (red flag that this guy is perhaps an industry exec or someone tied to the billion dollar industry). She states that there are some uses for the drug, but the consumers are not aware of the dangers and that needs to change.
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While researching this, I found this link. People were protesting Monsanto back in 1994….but Bill Clinton was busy in the Oval Office….something about an intern with a blue dress…
Diane Ravitch has this up on the debate on Common Core education standards in Michigan. It’s odd that they are debating it after they had accepted it….jumped the gun, maybe? That seems to be all to common in the education world–some *expert* claims to have the magic bullet for *fixing* education, but that never seems to pan out….
Another good blog from Diane Ravitch on the bullying in schools…
….not by the kids, mind you, but a teacher under pressure to conform and teach to the test and the principal who, as a commenter put it, has “lost their way”.
As was said–pit the parents and teachers against one another, and *voila*, you have dysfunction….leading to failing schools that can be closed and handed over to the profiteers….
From the blog:
My daughter, who is in the 11th grade, was victimized by her principal and teacher today because she submitted an opt out letter. She was made to feel wrong and unsupportive of her school because she wasn’t going to take the test.
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This is what I was talking about in my previous blog–it can be intimidating even for a parent to speak out–let alone a student who is vulnerable to the teacher’s grades and attitude.
Uppity people who ask questions or protest something they perceive as detrimental are to be dealt with—can’t have that because before you know it, there will be others who will also start asking questions….
Protests at her funeral here.
On the Mirror site, someone commented that they should put her in a black bag and put her out with the rest of the trash. Okay, that’s a little harsh. But spending 10 million is too, too much, especially for someone who promoted austerity.
Funny how people who advocate austerity measures never include themselves as recipients.
common dreams has this up on an unapologetic George W. Bush . The cartoon says it in ways that words could never come close.
From Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary:
/ˈsoʊsijəˌpæθ/ nounplural so·cio·paths
/ˌsoʊsijəˈpæθɪk/ adjectiveAt the same time, representatives from ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Halliburton, among others, met with Cheney’s staff in January 2003 to discuss plans for Iraq’s postwar industry. For the next decade, former and current executives of western oil companies acted first as administrators of Iraq’s oil ministry and then as “advisers” to the Iraqi government.
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Note further down the word privatization. Sound familiar??
I tried to search for Afghanistan profiteering, but coming up empty. I’ll wager that it’s the same, since there is an oil pipeline there.
I found this on the companies that profit the most from war.
Feeding the dark side.
Well, if we had any doubt at all, it is true that corporations actually think they own us. Literally.
What seems like a no-brainer–that you can’t own something you didn’t personally create, as in human beings–somehow becomes less clear once money is involved.
So, because someone wants to make a buck, the human body is patentable?
If that is so….and corporations own my body….who can I sue for being heavy metal poisoned??
common dreams has a link up to this McClatchy piece on the targets of drones–an estimated 3,500 people killed.
From the piece:
“The United States has gone far beyond what the U.S. public – and perhaps even Congress – understands the government has been doing and claiming they have a legal right to do,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a Notre Dame Law School professor who contends that CIA drone operations in Pakistan violate international law.
The administration has declined to reveal other details of the program, such as the intelligence used to select targets and how much evidence is required for an individual to be placed on a CIA “kill list.” The administration also hasn’t even acknowledged the existence of so-called signature strikes, let alone discussed the legal and procedural foundations of the attacks.
Eagle 
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