Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Dr. ooz is ozing us; or Dr. Oz is jamming us, so to speak.

Dr. ooz is ozing us; or Dr. Oz is jamming us, so to speak.
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The celebrity doctor Dr. Oz was called to testify yesterday before a US Senate committee on his promotion of weight loss products.
...
The good doctor admitted that the natural products he has promoted lack scientific evidence to support the contention that quick weight loss will be the result.

Why should this surprise us?

Our system is consumer capitalism; and many celebrities are corporate shills, making big bucks as part of the system.

It's also important to have a realistic perspective on our power structure; and the 1950ies analysis by C. Wright Mills, in The Power Elite still resonates.

Mills describes three levels of power in the US: the corporate elite which dominates; the politicos in Congress, the White House and active politicans at the state/local level comprises the 2nd level; and the bottom level is the mass public, the media, and the celebrities.

Dr. Oz is at the third low level; and we should be focusing on the top level power elite, the corporate/finance sector.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/17/dr-oz-congress_n_5504209.html
 

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Iraq, Bush 2 and the blame game.

(IRBIL, Iraq — The stage was set Friday for a major sectarian confrontation in Iraq after the government and the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric implored civilians to take up arms against Sunni militants — a move that would partially plug the ranks of the decimated security forces with religiously motivated volunteers.

Those developments appeared directly at odds with the approach urged by President Obama in Washington, who appealed to the Iraqi government to find way...s to bridge the country’s sectarian divisions.

After an offensive this week by the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) triggered a massive retreat by security forces in the north, the government turned to its citizenry for help, issuing a call for volunteers to join the battle. On Friday, that call was echoed in a message from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, delivered at prayers in the southern city of Karbala, a Shiite holy city.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/volunteers-flock-to-defend-baghdad-as-insurgents-seize-more-iraqi-territory/2014/06/13/10d46f9c-f2c8-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html?hpid=z1

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The Grand Ayatollah Alial-Sistani has called for an Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq.

I am not a Muslim; and to have a religious leader call for a violent caliphate (whatever caliphate means) is grotesque.

Even in the Caltholic Church, the presiding Pope is generally ignored on faith issues that are antiquated and silly.

If the Pope, with over a billion Church followers, were to call for a violent crusade against various Christian sects, he would be laughed out of the Vatican.

The blind following of a call by a Muslim Ayatollah for violence is stupid. The majority of Shiites and Sunnis have only a shadow knowledge of why they oppose each other. Ask them, and most of the those fighting would throw up their hands, and say the divide happened centuries ago, and all we really are sure of is that Muslim females must wear the vials and remain in the house.

The Iraqi PM Maliki (sp.?) is a Shiite and is a non-democratic autocrat. His Shiite sect religious leaders are also forcing him to exclude Sunnis from real power in Baghdad.

Saddam Hussein was a bad guy; a ruthless dictator who kept the lid on the sectarian divisions.

Bush 2, Cheney, Rummy , William Kristol, and the neo-con coterie in Bush 2's circle were all wrong when they invaded Iraq. The current turmoil in Iraq is a case of the chickens coming home to roost.

The blame game will be strong, with the Congressional GOP blaming Obama



Saturday, April 19, 2014

Clinton’s favorability rating has hit a six-year low, according to a new Fox News poll.)

(Clinton’s favorability rating has hit a six-year low, according to a new Fox News poll.)
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HRC will not run for POTUS 2016.
In any case, no potential candidate will jump in until the Nov. mid-terms are completed.
Methinks the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, will oppose her mother running, arguing that the campaign will be very toxic, vicious, and exhausting.
The Clintons have lived in the White House; and all three likely call the WH and Capital buildings a giant political sinkhole.
The argument that HRC will break the glass ceiling if she becomes POTUS is historically mushy.
Woodrow Wilson's second wife, Edith, became the defacto (not constitutional) POTUS when WIlson was incapacitated by a severe stroke.
She kept all visitors away, including Cabinet members.
She controlled the paper flow, and actually made decisions on what her hubby should see and sign.
The GOP national committee has already compiled a negative notebook on HRC; a file that would be J. Edgar Hoover's wet dream.
There is a long history of HRC's public career; and possibly the most damaging would be her administrative style.
In 1993, Bill wanted a health care reform bill and gave HRC the charge to develop the plan.
She ignored Congress, worked secretly behind closed doors, and used the wonkish consultant Ira Magaziner to produce a convoluted, complex plan that put heavy emphasis on HMOs.
HRC had been captured by the HMO interests.
HRC opened the closed conference door; took the plan to Congress; and dropped it on the legislatures' desks. GOP Senate leader Bob Dole pronounced it DOA.
But more importantly, the 1994 mid-term election saw the GOP take control of the House, with the HRC health plan a major issue.
With the House victory, the then radical conservative firebrand Gingrich became Speaker.
The last six years of the Clinton presidency never recovered.

    Friday, January 31, 2014

    Amanda Knox and the new guilty verdict

    Amanda Knox was found guilty in a do over by the second highest Italian court.

    In the earlier RedBlue blog, I had a good go round on this case with others, particularly with a blogger who believed Knox was guilty.

    I have not changed my position on this.
    I understand the new guilty verdict was garnered without going into all the evidence from the previous trial.

    Knox can appeal to the Italian appeals court, which can take months or years.
    This court may simply affirm yesterday's guilty decision.

    After that Knox could appeal to the European Court of Justice, which can overturn the guilty verdict.

    In any case, Knox should never return to Italy.
    And our State Dept. should deny Italy's request for extradition in the future.
    Knox has been tried 3 times, and this latest do over would constitute a violation of US double jeopardy guidelines.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/30/amanda-knox-afraid-of-today-s-court-verdict.html