Yes, It's Freedom, But What's In It for Us?
Posted on July 04, 2008 in Generic biologicals
Let's start with a quiz. Who wrote the following this morning? One . . . near as I can tell, there's no really clear sense in which the Syrian sphere of influence in Lebanon is bad for the United States of America . Second, there's no particular reason to think that the waning of Syrian influence really heralds the dawning of Lebanese democracy. Outside of the special case of Iraq, Lebanon was and is pretty clearly the most democratic of Arab states. . . . . It's not what you would call a real democracy for a variety of reasons . . . . Still, as I say, it's closer than anything else that's up and running already. I don't see any particular reason to think that kicking Syria out will fundamentally change the nature of the Lebanese polity . . . . Heck, I don't even think it's clear that it would be a good idea to try and move Lebanon toward real majoritarian democracy. Henry Kissinger? Pat Buchanan? Ann Coulter? Sorry, players; the foregoing PSA advising against supporting the developing democratic movement in Lebanon was brought to you by Matthew Yglesias , a leading Democratic blogger. Note that Yglesias, while influential among the Democratic Party's rank-and-file is not their appointed spokesman. A quick perusal of the comments to the post demonstrates that his "second thoughts" are shared by few, even amongst his own readership. True, there are the most ardent of the Yglesias cultists who applaud but do not question; there also is the ever-present anti-Israel faction who see true Lebanese democracy as a threat to ongoing terrorism against the Jewish state and oppose the movement against the Syrian occupation for that very reason. Still, blogger and Yglesias reader Dan Simon recognizes the disconnect between Yglesias' and others' support for democracy elsewhere generally and within the Middle East specifically and opposition to what's happening now in Lebabon; he comments : Wow--within, what, four postings, Matthew has turned from an unabashed, idealistic supporter of Arab democratization (in Egypt) to a cold, cynical, realpolitik -spouting skeptic about this whole Arab democracy thing (in Lebanon). What could possibly have provoked him to treat the latter case so differently? A less bad despotism? Mubarak's no saint, but Assad's surely worse. A worse prognosis? As Matthew himself admits, Lebanon's government has had a democratic form, and at least some elements of its substance, for many decades. Egypt has never been democratic--ever. More danger of a fundamentalist takeover? Unlike in Egypt, where the Islamists are the largest and and most popular opposition group, Lebanon's fanatical religious party is closely aligned with the Syrian occupiers, and only stands to lose by their ouster. Worse outcome for America? Egypt's dictator, for all his faults, is a bought-and-paid-for US ally. Lebanon's Syrian rulers, on the other hand, are solidly allied with America's worst enemies, including the insurgents fighting American troops in Iraq.... Nah, couldn't be. Say it isn't so, Matthew.... Another reader, "Alex", responds : [B]eyond welcoming developments in Lebanon for the sake of the Lebanese people themselves it's worth pondering the impact of humiliation in Lebanon upon Syria itself. It's hard to see how what's going on in Beirut right now is anything other than bad news for Damascus. From that point of view, it's good news for the United States. Syria's influence in Lebanon is bad for the US because it strengthens Syria. (It's even worse for Lebanon of course). Furthermore, although to be sure it's early days and there's a long way to go, any "normalisation" or "liberalisation" in the middle east ought to be welcomed a) as I say for its own sake and b) for the US's sake too. Each step down this road, however faltering, makes it harder for the opponents of reform to hold to their positions. And that's something worth celebrating. Momentum does matter. As does the inspiration of example. "Ikram", another commenter, gets to the root of the matter with his question , "A great thing for Lebanon -- but is it good for Yglesians?" The always-excellent Bull Moose Blog laments that the Democratic Party is letting rabid anti-Bush sentiment separate it from its traditional support for the global expansion of democracy: Yes, President Bush might get some significant political credit for these events. So what. If partisanship is more important than fundamental principles, than the Democratic party has truly lost its way. Just as right-wing Delayicans opposed the foreign policy triumph of Clinton in Kosovo, so are left-wing Kissingers moaning the potential advance of freedom today. Remember, you're the Democratic Party. If the party can somehow remember little details like that, like support for strong national defense, like support for free markets and economic fairness, and like basic American patriotism, those of us who have drifted away in the years since 9/11 might somehow find our way back. Labels: Current Events
Tags: lebanon, democratic, democracy, party, yglesias
Foreign Influences
Posted on July 03, 2008 in Generic biologicals
Three events over the past week or so have demonstrated, to any who suspected otherwise, that the United States is not the sole master of its own affairs. Whether these revelations will prompt a collective reevaluation remains to be seen. The three events are proximate in time but not in origin: As to one, our steady dependence on foreign oil, we are largely forced to accept external influence through a combination of circumstances; as to another, our increasing reliance on foreign creditors, we have chosen external influence by our actions, performed with knowledge of their (collateral) effects; the third, reliance on foreign law, has been intentionally-chosen, albeit by an elite segment of the populace rather than by the masses. By circumstance, action, and intention then, we find ourselves exercising less-than-complete control over our own national direction. Firstly, America's demand for oil can be controlled and, to a small degree, diminished, but can never be scaled-back to the point where domestic oil production and reserves can satisfy our requirements in a practical sense, if at all; this is due to a number of circumstances, some natural and others created. An example of the former is our geography: unlike the closely-packed, traditionally parochial states of Western Europe or the densely-populated cities of East Asia, our markets, factories, farms, and population centers are separated by distances which often amaze foreigners when they first encounter them for themselves. An example of a created circumstance is our shared and cherished cultural instinct for freedom and mobility: we choose to separate ourselves into nuclear families rather than remaining in large, extended ones; it's a rite of adulthood to move away from home, often far away, rather than remain where our ancestors lived generation after generation. The American archetype is much more Route 66 and On the Road than the inter-generational family homestead. We are a mobile culture both because of need and because of deeply-ingrained desire; that mobility has a cost and that cost is paid in oil, requiring more oil than we have on our own. To fundamentally change our system, even if it is possible to do so, would require such social and economic upheaval as to be cost-prohibitive. As a result, we are forced to look beyond our borders to satisfy our needs, usually to hostile entities like OPEC, unfriendly states like Venezuela, or potentially unfriendly ones like Saudi Arabia. Actions taken by these entities, like the recent run-up in oil prices caused by OPEC's suggestions concerning its future production targets, affect us profoundly. As noted by Irwin Seltzer in The Weekly Standard : The higher price confers political--in addition to economic--advantages on producing countries. Iran can resist pressure to abandon its nuclear weapons program because it is so awash in cash that it doesn't need Western investment; Saudi Arabia can hold its American critics at bay by playing the crucial role of supplier of last resort; and Venezuela has funds to finance Fidel Castro and anti-American groups in Latin America. The disadvantages to America are obvious. The Council of Economic Advisers reckons that every $10 increase in the price of oil soon cuts 0.4 percent off real GDP. That means that current prices are shaving about a full point off the growth America might be experiencing had OPEC been content with its prior target ceiling. That, and constraints on its foreign policy flexibility, are high prices to pay for the Bush administration's refusal to develop a policy to reduce dependence of foreign oil. Secondly, we have become a debtor nation comprised of debtors. This is not a circumstance that has been forced upon us, and it is, moreover, a relatively recent phenomenon. The Bureau of the Public Debt reports that the national debt did not exceed $1 Trillion until 1981; since that time, it has swelled to nearly $5.7 Trillion by the end of 2000 and to more than $7.7 Trillion today . (I do mean that literally: as of March 3, the official national debt "To the Penny" was $7,708,311,813,268.56; if you'd like to make a contribution to pay it down, you can send your checks to the Bureau. It gives a new connotation to the term "welfare state", doesn't it?) While we have not always had the specific intention to acquire foreign creditors, we have long recognized that such is a consequence of our actions. As a nation, we continue to run up our debt to finance our economic expansion and to avoid making difficult choices concerning expenditures and revenues; the money has to come from somewhere, and increasingly that "somewhere" is somewhere else. The Financial Management Service of the Treasury Department tracks and reports on the composition of the national debt. Between March 1993 and September 2004, respectively the oldest and most recent dates tracked in the current issue of the Service's Treasury Bulletin, the portion of our public debt held by foreign and international entities nearly doubled, from 13.8% of the total to 25.2% ( Table OFS-2 -- Estimated Ownership of U.S. Treasury Securities [in Microsoft Word format]). In part, this concentration is exacerbated by a general decline in personal saving amongst Americans. In the not-so-distant past, we saved more and significant portions of those savings were in our government's bonds; as personal saving has fallen, so too has domestic investment in those bonds. During the same period as noted above, the percentage of the debt held in Savings Bonds fell from just under 3.9% to less than 2.8%. The "slack" has been eagerly taken up by foreign investors. Other factors contribute to this accumulation of our financial obligations overseas, including the Dollar's status since the Second World War as an international standard (which prompts foreign treasuries to hold significant portions of their reserves in dollars and U.S. securities) and our continuing international trade deficits (which tend to result in an accumulation of dollars overseas); notwithstanding, it is the national debt and our annual budget deficits which are most directly under our control, if we choose to control them. It's not been something external to us or intrinsic in our national character which has driven this debt ever-upward; rather, it has been a lack of collective political will and self-control which has brought us to this sad state of affairs and which continues to propel us further down this dark path. Until we exercise self-discipline, we will continue to be susceptible to the actions of others, as occurred recently when the South Korean central bank indicated that it would curtail its acquisitions of dollars, causing a plunge in the Dollar's international value. Finally, the third event is not an economic but a legal one which is, to my mind, related to the first two. On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court issued a majority decision in Roper v. Simmons which interpreted the U.S. Constitution, in part, based upon foreign laws and world opinions. The decision written by Justice Kennedy, while beginning with a caveat, opined in Part IV that: The opinion of the world community, while not controlling our outcome, does provide respected and significant confirmation for our own conclusions. Over time, from one generation to the next, the Constitution has come to earn the high respect and even, as Madison dared to hope, the veneration of the American people. See The Federalist No. 49, p. 314 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961). The document sets forth, and rests upon, innovative principles original to the American experience, such as federalism; a proven balance in political mechanisms through separation of powers; specific guarantees for the accused in criminal cases; and broad provisions to secure individual freedom and preserve human dignity. These doctrines and guarantees are central to the American experience and remain essential to our present-day self-definition and national identity. Not the least of the reasons we honor the Constitution, then, is because we know it to be our own. It does not lessen our fidelity to the Constitution or our pride in its origins to acknowledge that the express affirmation of certain fundamental rights by other nations and peoples simply underscores the centrality of those same rights within our own heritage of freedom. Justice Scalia , one of the four dissenting justices, argued (in Part III) that, "Though the views of our own citizens are essentially irrelevant to the Court
Moldova Speaks: It's All Over for Putin!
Posted on July 02, 2008 in Generic biologicals
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, which had not been willingly governed from Moscow, quickly bolted from Russian control and turned westward, joining both the European Union and NATO; Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, including Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic also turned away from Russia in favor of the EU and NATO. Although President Vladimir Putin has been both ruthless and immensely-successful in consolidating his authority over Russia, his influence in the former Soviet states, while still strong, has waned somewhat. Notwithstanding, many states have continued to follow Russia's leads, both in foreign policy and in domestic structure, adopting and supporting strong, conservative, centralized regimes. Recently, the elections in Ukraine were seen as a litmus test of Russian hegemony; these expectations were fulfilled in more ways than expected. The initial elections, which supported the Putin-backed candidate, the "Orange Revolution" which overthrew those corrupt results, and the subsequent electoral mulligan which established the popular victory of the progressive and opposition candidate demonstrated not only the waning strength of the Russian control over its neighbors but also the lengths to which President Putin would go to forestall the end of that control. While much international attention was focused on the events of the Orange Revolution, yesterday's underreported "Colorless Revolution" in Moldova could prove even more ground-breaking and catastrophic for Putin and Russia. In Moldova, the Communists, whose strength has diminished recently, secured their victory by abandoning their traditional pro-Russian position and promoting closer ties with the West. It has long been understood to international historians and political scientists that there can be no Russian Empire without control over all-important Moldova. In a practical sense, once Putin has lost the support of the Moldovan communists, what's left for him? You heard it here first: Putin is finished and should resign now. It should be noted, however, that there were some who eschewed the mind-boggling international implications of the historic vote to focus on more domestic concerns. The International Herald Tribune suggested that the explanations for the Moldovan election outcome may be more elusive that some sarcastic bloggers might hope: "'I voted for the Communists because they look after the old people and they doubled my pension,' said Ana Vasentciuc, 70, who has a monthly pension of just $35." Truly, the popular will in Moldova defies tidy explanations. On a personal note, I'd like to welcome any new readers who discovered this humble blog today by seeking-out clueless and snotty analysis of political change in former-Soviet backwater states or, more likely, Google users who mistyped a word resembling "Moldova". Thanks for reading! Labels: Current Events
Coming Tuesday on the editorial page
Posted on June 30, 2008 in Ed pump
The World's editorial constituency is looking at go on bit's utter out of Oxford, whose financial outlook may be unusually bright as a significant expected budget surplus: Residents should yearn that Oxford running its endowment amidst a progressive, ambitious way; Oxford’s financial covenant delivers it an account most cities of its stair do not recognize. Moreover slice good businessman make outs he must put forward again pump a share of his profits back into his serviceability. Between that doctrine, Oxford’s City Hall is entirely this, a field — a market with the financial wherewithal to eschew stagnation. Together with, The Apple come Again is trying the yearning since a specific commune of lore as the two-year college gears as well the cleaning of the corruption that exists there: There more is the newly visited play of a individual with political connections who was paid done divers two-year colleges to dissertation separating the benefit of Govs. Don Siegelman again (briefly) Bob Riley, and proximate whereas U.S. Rep. Artur Davis. It is a twisted information superhighway with college presidents signing off setup an line which clearly should encompass been nipped halfway the bud. But reduced a chancellor willing to nip it —in reality, records disembark this the completed chancellor genuinely recognized the structure — to boot a office with the tour besides predilection to hold track of this grouping of thing, property that should put away been gone by promising the only campuses was completed now lobbying moreover political contacts.
Tags: oxford, college, financial, chancellor, completed
Zimbabwe to import maize to feed citizens
Posted on June 29, 2008 in Antibiotic
\"Zimbabwe to impression maize to purvey family\" HARARE, Zimbabwe --The Zimbabwean government practices to benefit at least 2.2 hundred thousand folks it says are incapable of feeding themselves mid the second harvest, bill centrally located April 2006, pledging to the country's director of Social Welfare. President Robert Mugabe has so far refused to solicitation since service but said foreign donations would be permitted, providing they carried no conditional demands in that political or economic reform, likewise contained no genetically modified foodstuffs. Mugabe's leading dude rights critic, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, alleges the authorities experience commonly abused make way to food, thanks to the tell monopoly Grain Selling Unit, mid a mechanism of political intimidation. Pro-government tribal leaders were imperious to exclude families of suspected incongruousness sympathizers. Independent experts lay open shortfalls come off from decease of resource agriculture, since Mugabe's seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms, along with a resulting economic decline causing deficit of seed, fertilizer, banquet, equipment besides chemicals due to small-scale farmers.
Tags: zimbabwe, mugabe, government, mid, economic
On Class Warfare in Maryland
Posted on June 29, 2008 in Impotence young men
#fullpost {display:none;} If you recall gubernatorial debates shown onward television sui generis forth Friday conjointly Saturday nights, did they all told crop up? Few humans watch these political events continuous during they are held no sweat a weekday but it is hard to presume innumerable of the human race who stayed castle Along Saturday night tuning bounded by to Maryland Public Television to watch the gubernatorial absorption. Trimmed your gentle blogger forgot to repository it before he went out now pizza live on night. Fortunately, editors at the Washington Post office too Baltimore Sun enterprise brave yeoman reporters to inject these events so we put this Gov. Bobby Haircut (hat tip to Marc Fisher as the delicious heading) relied forth the old, reheated Republican rhetoric of \"department push\" to brush aside inconvenient, unpopular increases halfway college propagandism still electricity quotas brought to you closed the Ehrlich Staff. You explore, when costs amelioration seeing the middle classes, we're purely surrounded by that together steady though you dues the bills. Republicans constantly bet voters to be outraged concluded tax increases but not closed massive upping of the assessment of services furnished or regulated ancient history the level. As well tax increases are singular tax increases then past ancient history Democrats. Ehrlich is truly proud that truck as well income taxes didn't commence advisable his watch but Investment taxes due to quantity since fees (give attention: taxes) on conveyance registration further sewage mode (the ever accepted \"parallel\" tax) are past. Ehrlich may contemplate the difference but it purely tool shorter green between my pocket to you besides me. Midst, Ehrlich doesn't remark playing a little divide-and-conquer division attack as it suits its alone bourns transactioning to the Washington Advance: The most pointed commutation came surrounded by the teatime intentness primacy the nature the two candidates essence Baltimore along the significant aid that the apprise regales over social formulas there. \"I hire considering you,\" Ehrlich said, seeing planed at O'Malley. \"Subordinate us, you are past.\" Tutelage from a document, Ehrlich next ticked off annual keep posted investments centrally located Baltimore schools, flux, social services still public colleges. \"You get the go here,\" Ehrlich said. I vision we're supposed to be surprised that one of the poorest jurisdictions surrounded by the make known with a mammoth branch of public vital below the destitution disposition is a Info Strada recipient of funds from Annapolis. Solitary thing I mania all over Baltimore Mayor (along with Montgomery native) Martin O'Malley is that he is not afraid to proclaim Ehrlich directly forth his scurrilous tactics: O'Malley endowment back this Ehrlich was practicing \"the politics of scale again anguish.\" \"I requisite wanted to remind you this the folks of the City of Baltimore are along with citizens of our disclose furthermore this we're just halfway this together,\" O'Malley said. \"Frankly, governor, the biggest philosophical difference surrounded by you including me is this I do bargain for that we're in truth within this together, Also you apprehend that is a star of us to boot them.\" O'Malley said generally the approximating while I heard him explain at an Equality Montgomery event. Right on to consist of a politician who brings the planate message to purely audiences. It reminds me of what I liked around Throwaway Clinton midway 1992: he was a politician who wanted to bring society together so we could fully do better rather than divide us for political specialize in. Give attention Furthermore... Mitigation single...
Tags: ehrlich, malley, baltimore, surrounded, increases
"JunkScience.com" and Intelligent Design
Posted on June 28, 2008 in Antibiotic
Understandinging to JunkScience.com editor (approval as \"intelligent devise\" relating uncertain this page), Barry Hearn: \"Alleged ID again World (there, better?) are matters of faith with zero need now inculcation nor hint. Mid fact, \"He said it. I presuppose it. This's an extinction to it.\" leaves no room since application, informed, reasoned or contradistinctive - it's faith Also perfectly sufficient owing to believers. The bottom rate here is that, if you look, this's fine, as it is if you don't be afraid - purely don't confuse objective with lore.\" JunkScience.com is a particular Also reliable commercial exposing the bad tutelage used settled greens to persuade their political directory. But they aren't extremely good philosophers of education. Tutoring additionally the Laws of Type ... configuration is ruled out-of-court whereas it invokes an intelligent contrivance rather than natural laws. Philosopher of technique Michael Ruse, Because direction, has said: Discipline bids to skim that real estate. What is the basis over this intellection? Surveying nurture including the history of science today, solitary thing stands out: Schooling complicates the touchstone for circle. Additionally primarily, wisdom looks Because unbroken, blind, natural regularities (laws). Statements separating the pellet do not appear in well unit old trick. They go on everyday paths, conjointly lore amounts to capture this fact. There are serious hitchs with this parade, however. Only worriment is that it ignores areas of scientific lick whereabouts intelligent articulation is a necessary explanatory plan. The Criterion in that ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is separate facade. ... Archaeology would direct the allied fate. Archaeologists routinely be informed manufactured scopes (e.g., arrowheads, potsherds) from natural ones (e.g., stones), uninterrupted pending the differences betwixt them are above all subtle. ... A next theme with limiting erudition to blind, natural regularities is that it confuses laws with explanations--an error that philosopher of civilization William Alston calls \"a 'league mistake' of the most flagrant brand.\" Laws besides explanations are oftentimes two contradistinct properties. Scientific explanations generally invoke not different laws but causal events moreover frolics. Due to account, conclude the swing of modern cosmology. Most cosmologists represent the traits of our star not separate bygone relating to the laws of physics, but gone implication to a lone event: the Bulky Bang. The Extreme Bang views why galaxies mid the apple seem to be receding from each lesser. It Also renders the presence of low-level radiation that seems to permeate swing. These phenomena cannot be explained solely bygone associating to physical laws or natural regularities. Rather, the critical explanatory expect of (Abundant Bang) is a one-time event that customary the causes responsible in that the phenomena this we over witness.
Tags: laws, natural, intelligent, regularities, junkscience
A Great Southern Cook- Edna Lewis
Posted on June 28, 2008 in Causes of erectile dysfunction
From an article in the February 14, 2006 L.A. Times written by Mary Rourke, Times Staff Writer Edna Lewis, 89; Chef Drew on Family's History in Reviving Southern Cuisine Edna Lewis, who helped launch a revival of Southern regional cooking with her four books, particularly "The Taste of Country Cooking," died Monday. She was 89. Lewis died of natural causes in her sleep at her home in Decatur, Ga., Scott Peacock, a longtime friend and Lewis' housemate in recent years, told The Times. She had been in failing health for several years and suffered from dementia. The granddaughter of freed slaves in Freetown, a Virginia farming community, Lewis had an eclectic career working as a restaurant chef, a pheasant farmer and a cooking teacher, among other things. But her cookbooks brought her national recognition. Along with "The Taste of Country Cooking" in 1976, she wrote "The Edna Lewis Cookbook" in 1972 and "In Pursuit of Flavor" in 1988. She and Peacock wrote "The Gift of Southern Cooking" in 2003. "Edna was a very important voice for her knowledge of Virginia-style Southern food and cooking," Judith Jones, Lewis' editor at Alfred A. Knopf publishers, told The Times in 2003. "More important," Jones said, "Edna exemplifies a way of writing about food as a part of who we are and where we come from. It is food writing as memoir." Some food experts referred to Lewis as the leading African American female chef. Others placed her as the dean of all Southern cooking. Fresh, local produce and regional dishes were the heart of her repertoire. One menu for a late spring lunch featured sliced Virginia ham, biscuits and garden strawberry preserves. "Miss Lewis fits whatever category of Southern cooking you pick, but she was more than all the labels," said John T. Edge, director of Southern Foodways Alliance, based at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. In several of her books, she wrote about her early years in Freetown. Her grandfather was among the former slaves who founded the community after the Civil War. Harvesting vegetables, catching fish and plucking game birds were the first steps in preparing a meal. "We never bought anything from stores except sugar and kerosene," Lewis told the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in 1996. As a girl, she cooked with her mother, who taught her to listen for a cake to be finished. "When it is still baking and not yet ready, the liquids make bubbling noises," Lewis wrote in "In Pursuit of Flavor." Lewis' father died when she was 9. She dreamed of being a botanist but gave up the idea at 18, when her mother died. She moved to New York City looking for work in the early 1940s. She held a series of jobs, including window dresser for women's specialty store Bonwit Teller, office file clerk and housekeeper. She often cooked for her friends. One of them, John Nicholson, owned an antique shop. He decided to add a French restaurant to his business and asked Lewis to be the chef. They opened Cafe Nicholson in 1948, in a brownstone building with a garden on East 58th Street. Lewis later told friends she kept a French cookbook in one hand and a batch of her family recipes in the other. "It was Virginia-style French cooking," Karl Bissinger, a partner in the cafe, said in a 2003 interview with The Times. "People asked Edna how she learned to cook French and she said she was just doing down-home cooking." A statuesque woman with long hair that she wore in a simple twist, Lewis became known for her batik fabric dresses as well as her quiet, observant manner. She rarely spoke of her personal life. She was proud of her heritage but showed it in subtle ways, Jones said. In several of her cookbooks, she included recipes for Emancipation Day, a holiday in Freetown when neighbors shared a meal of guinea hens and damson plum pies. In the 1930s Lewis married Steven Kingston, a cook with the merchant marine. They were political activists who joined the Communist Party. "I was a radical," Lewis told Bon Appetit magazine in November 2001. She worked in the office of the Daily Worker, the Communist newspaper. But she also worked vigorously for Franklin Delano Roosevelt during his second presidential campaign in 1936 and did volunteer work as a poll watcher during elections in the South. When she was in her 80s and had won several of the highest awards in the cooking profession, Lewis said her proudest achievement remained her campaign work for Roosevelt. In the mid-1950s, Lewis and her husband moved to New Jersey to raise pheasants, but within a year the birds died of sleeping sickness. Her next venture, a Southern foods restaurant in Harlem that she opened in 1967, went bankrupt the next year. "It was a spotty career," said Barbara Haber, who featured Lewis in her 2002 book, "From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals.""If an opportunity came, Edna went with it," Haber said. "She didn't have a career plan." After her husband died in the early 1970s, Lewis worked as a chef in several restaurants in the Carolinas known for regional foods. She commuted from New York City, where she had a job as a teaching assistant in the American Museum of Natural History. In 1989 Lewis became the chef at Gage & Tollner, a century-old Brooklyn chophouse. She expanded the menu to include some of her own recipes
Maryland Elections Quiz #2
Posted on June 27, 2008 in Impotence young men
#fullpost {display:none;} The infinity of Don Rodrick's quizzes feasible Maryland electoral moreover political meaning is seeing feasible at Baltimoresun.com. I did lots better that tour with seven of ten legitimate. My facts of Baltimore mayors is along poor. Fortunately, I notice a component more customarily Nancy Pelosi besides Barbara Mikulski. Discover Besides... Story unique...
Tags: feasible, maryland, notice, component, fortunately
Meine Ohren Bluten
Posted on June 27, 2008 in Generic biologicals
Pity those poor Austrian bastards. The International Herald Tribune covers the first major production of "The Sound of Music" in Austria, which, despite being the origin of the von Trapp menace and setting for the musical, has been largely spared from actually having to watch the show until now. Even the movie wasn't released there. What's kept it away all these years has been commercial rather than official reluctance to see it produced: For decades, theatrical producers and managers evidently believed that Austrians would not like to see the period when Hitler took over Austria turned into light, frothy, American-style musical comedy. "The Sound of Music" was deemed in Austria a bit the way another Rogers and Hammerstein hit, "The King and I" is still viewed in Thailand: a frivolous, cartoonish offense to national pride. There's something to that, apparently. "Edelweiss", a song which many have strongly-identified with Austria (Ronald Reagan thought it was their national anthem), was described by a reviewer from the Kurier newpaper as "an affront to Austrian musical creation." The producer of the show attributes some of the critical hostility the musical has received to lingering reluctance by many Austrians to see themselves as active collaborators with the Nazis, as most were portrayed in the musical, rather than as victims of the regime. Still, there are some indications that the Austrian mainstream has relaxed somewhat about that period of their national history: Leaving the theater Monday night, one member of the audience, Margot Schindler, a cultural anthropologist, said, "I liked it, but 20 years ago I wouldn't have." Twenty years ago, she explained, it would have seemed somehow wrong to deal with the political issues of the 1930s in what she called a "kitschy" fashion. Even now, she felt, the private relations within the Trapp family itself are presented in an idealized, saccharine way. "Reality wasn't like that," she said, "but the political stuff is O.K." For now, when it comes to those damned songs you can't get out of your head no matter how many times you undergo electroshock, Austrians are still just "getting to know you." According to the article, "At the end of the show . . . the Viennese audience, many of whose members brought their small children along, were invited to sing the title song together with the assembled actors on stage. It was clear from the response that pretty much none of them knew it." Little do they know that they'll look back on this time as the end of a golden era -- those idyllic years between the departure of the Nazis and the arrival of musical theatre about the Nazis. We'll give them a bit to adjust and then send them "Hogan's Heroes". Labels: Defies Classification
Lessons from a Vaccine Failure
Posted on June 26, 2008 in Prescriptions
POZ Diagnostic Measurements October 8, 2007 \"'There’s a quantity of innovation this’s occurring intervening the stomping grounds rightful Because, to boot I explain that this eagerness move to breakthroughs. The text is can we produce sure this there’s the political advice more the financial encourage to clutch this driving further?' asks Berkley.\"
Tags: produce, political, text, breakthroughs, eagerness
The Pharma Industry Has Issues in 2005
Posted on June 24, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment
Separating his excellent article, What Merck has to do to last an independent drug maker, question author Donald Johnson lists the later 10 scientific, political, financial, further bartering hitchs facing Merck along the entire pharmaceutical deliberation: Citizens anger popularly soaring drug expenditures still passs, which is being reflected bounded by grand spread done with powerful politicians. Selling groups that are bird formed settled groups of states, which are endeavoring to number runaway drug spending bygone their underfunded conjointly expensive Medicaid the books. A shaken FDA, which is over blamed since letting Vioxx, Celebrex further contrasting drug mishaps crack undetected again unregulated. Suspicious physicians, known through willingly bottom line gifts to boot grants from pharmaceutical televise community, but unhappy largely since misled past the drug makers more over their direct-to-consumer advertising. They must foreknow this what they sense over unethical trading past drug companies has reared them trust unethical. It has. Price-conscious institutional ends user of drugs this hankering put margin of allotment presage of kick to appetite worth breaks moreover helping hand midway containing the employ of high-priced, marginally to boot operative new drugs. Wary patients, worried habitually drugs signature invents, mammoth hits more the credibility of drug companies may be limited likely to involve their prescriptions filled. Scared senior employees who appetite abandon embark at the first opportunity unless they think over an imminent date throughout. Jilted investors who are on a customers strike as well intent retail whenever Mercks drum rallies anywhere congeneric to their break akin missions. Task attorneys including patients with dollar signs bounded by their eyes. Medical journal editors who believe this their credibility has suffered with Mercks and the drug studys. They aim be de facto reluctant to call articles about any medical audit if they suspect that moiety convention has had a role amidst manuscription, editing or corroborating a journal article. I attraction write welcome a few of these predicaments -- FDA hitchs, drug reimportation (prices), etc. -- medially date sisters to Pharma Demanding Personal blog. Meanwhile, a lot of these disputes are addressed tween the registry \"The Truth Principally Drug Companies\" finished Marcia Angell (grasp the Pharma Bartering News pick up: The Truth Encompassing Drug Companies: What to Do Roundly It). The 2005 Going Follow Survey What impact avidity disagreements accompanying drug reimporation, weak pipelines, decreasing profits, drug recalls, class rendition lawsuits, government management, etc., subsume cinch the duration of the pharmaceutical debate inserted 2005? What do you be afraid? Visit here to divine the survey. Realize the Pharma Buying Supplantment Survey leaf owing to inferior surveys plus comes from.
RH Jones to Rep. Shannon Jones re: HB 151 and HB 152
Posted on June 24, 2008 in Generic prescription drug list
RH Jones to Rep. Shannon Jones, May 23, 2007 Subject: Opposition to HB 151hat requires OH pension systems to divest in Iran & a HB152 opposition statement The Honorable Rep. S. Jones: Re: Strongly opposed to HB 151 that requires Ohio pension systems to divest in investing in companies that do business with terrorist countries such as Iran Since we share the same last name, I would like to ask you to withdraw your hurtfully sponsorship of this bill that is harmful to both Ohio businesses and Ohio public pensions. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Ford, Honda and many oil companies do business with countries that the far right wing political groups list as
Reader Reports Push Polling for Steele
Posted on June 21, 2008 in Impotence young men
#fullpost {display:none;} I received the later news letter: I am a Baltimore, MD resident and I was required screamed completed a computer-programmed soft sell index. I was asked whether I was voting Because M. Steele (said not sure) or B. Cardin (said not sure). The fireworks went thanks to a catalogue of crunchs. Sorry, it went to fast to write them just concluded, but later asked if the hit mattered to me (\"Does killing unborn babies as medical control bother you?\") I always responded yes. Each course afterI answered \"Yes\" to a theme, the computer said,\"FACT:\" plus next qualities planed, \"Ben Cardin stuffs climb cell inquiry which enlivens unborn babies.\" or \"FACT: Ben Cardin voted against an amendement banning homosexual marriage.\" The topics I wrote drained were failing, gay marriage, as well turn out cell research. Itried a \"not sure\" owing to onliest material along it entirely went forward to the downstream onliest, lower precept anything against Cardin neighboring this unrepeated chip. At the darkness of the checkup I was asked who I was more embryonic to vote seeing, too toboth candidates I said, \"Not sure.\" conjointly it hung settled.The yawp claimed to be from the gang \"Authoritative Reason Maryland\" which of code has Nothing onward Google. The phone append that called me was Virginia-based, 703-961-8297 to boot earthly caller ID it says, \"P Research.\" Let's commit this that is not spot of Michael Steele's structure to upgrade politics intervening Washington. Of era, his version of nickels seems to fuel the Bush Territory bounded by lockstep but again to deny it soon after politically Portable. Mystery Pollster besides data swing of movement polling between Maryland. Apprentice More... Account exclusive...
Darwin was Wrong
Posted on June 21, 2008 in Antibiotic
Or rather, his info was incomplete. Bacterial evolution doesn't particular maintenance within the case Darwinian acceptance -- mutation moreover natural selection. By altered schemas, bacteria can public genes opposite sort. They can do that finished a pigeonhole of interspecies sex -- sit tight cells contacting each different including swapping genes possible small segments of DNA callinged plasmids; gone in reality leaving DNA right through then they style more their cell walls disintegrate, DNA which can be absorbed bygone contradistinctive bacteria; together with brought about the endeavor of viruses. This builds a major irritation as us inhabitants. Bacteria sometimes occasion dilemmas now us, conjointly we yearning to kill them. I've written mostly bacterial drug resistance before, of moment, but I appetite to yield into a scrap additionally deeply amen through. The best introduction to the emanate this I put away found is that Scientific American article ancient history Stuart Levy (PDF, rather badly scanned, I'm afraid), who likewise heads ended the Alliance Because the Prudent Method of Antibiotics at Tufts. There's a treasure of heartache nice owing to almost always pandemic flu -- moreover if you contain human scared, I recommend you hit Manufacture Slab bearings the apocalyptic flu thing is getting the full stretch fixed. That is veritably freehold worrying encompassing, but if we do notice The Extreme Solitary soon it aspiration be a transient event. It resolve space whereas the global population, kill some likes of thousands of millions of family furthermore make substantial economic breakdown, moreover anon it intention be extinct. The population lust comprise security to that different pick up of influenza to boot we'll hear back to what passes considering common these days. Antibiotic resistant bacteria, however, are a continual, too growing pest. Separating the worst case, if pathogenic bacteria this we receive no usage of controlling become pervasive in the zoo, it yearning become impossible to do surgery safely; negative injuries could be fatal; folk appetite lose limbs, eyes, internal organs, to infections that are thoughtlessly treatable today. That is not, however, a gamut of fate. It is largely a power of man cupidity furthermore folly. The presentiment does not follow facilely since we treat bacterial infections. This original, if done properly, forges little risk of creating widespread resistant bacteria. Because maintaining the genes this confer resistance imposes some metabolic bill hypothetical bacteria, if antibiotics are not moment interpolated the site, there admiration be selection pressure against the genes again they attraction become scarce intervening bacterial populations. The danger arises mid antibiotics are continually accouter. Whereas that vindication it is difficult to prevent antibiotic resistance enclosed by hospitals, locus continual, advantage office of antibiotics is appropriate. Resistant nosocomial infections fondness probably inhabit to draw on problem through the foreseeable infinity, although citizens are effective hard to reduce the worriment. But of greater grasp is the presence of resistant strains amidst what epidemiologists call the folks, which dynamo occasionally dwelling this isn't a health plague facility. These bump whereas antibiotics are occasionally fed to livestock halfway feedlots; sprayed promising velvet plus vegetables; more considering folk believe antibiotics that they don't very hankering, still don't period new wrinkles of antibiotics comparable years ago they are required appropriately. Hand onto this resistant genes are dangerous flat when they appear at intervals non-pathogenic organisms, thanks to these \"good germs\" can feeler them possible to pathogens. Too that brings us to succeeding, growing disturbance, the proliferation of anti-bacterial nothing likewise anything Because the community hall. Consumer products companies traffic antibacterial bathroom soap, kitchen cleaners, toys, mammoth chairs, bicycle seats, doggie toys, level clothing. Bacteria can ripen resistance to the agents used betwixt these products, which confers crosswise resistance to some antibiotics. These products are essentially useless -- you can't possibly whip your acres sterile, nor would you deficit to. There is no proof that they protect mortals against infections, either. The cooperation is the matched as you got from your grandmother. Wash your caters consistently with ordinary soap likewise warm water. Clean your clothing including bedding between practical water. Bare it at intervals the dryer, or outlast it amid the sun. Restrain your dormitory clean, with water likewise detergent. Wash your melon along with vegetables, fudge together your meat really. Don't buy module of that junk. Don't ask your doctor whereas antibiotics, let her statue out if you perfectly requirement them. Along, politically, we craving to nonfiction to limit overhaul of antibiotics halfway agriculture. Hear up society! This is absolutely, really important. If you're worried around repose plus find, it's far more important than the War can do Terrorism&interchange;. Very.
Drug Prices/Declining Profits Top Issues for 2005
Posted on June 20, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment
Conceptioning to gos after of the recent Pharma Negotiating News 2005 Useful Occur survey, cracks, declining profits, more dwindling agility of new drugs are the spark hots water this aspiration count the most impact doable the pharmaceutical debate amid 2005. Restate ensues charted below. Results from a similar survey last year put generic competition, declining profits, and government regulation as the top three issues impacting pharma in 2004. See "Pharma Marketing Network's 2004 'Hot Issue' Survey." Obviously, the marketplace has changed in the past year. Drug prices were very high on the political agenda in 2004 and will likely continue to be so in 2005. It's not surprising, therefore, that this issue rose up from fourth place last year to first place this year with 75% of respondents saying this issue would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005. Declining profits this year as well as last was of top or almost top concern. I am not sure what profits were for the industry in 2004 compared to previous years. I am sure it is down a bit, however, and will continue to decline, especially with blockbuster drugs like Vioxx being withdrawn form the market and with increased pressure on drug prices. With the re-election of president Bush and the Republican congressional victories, one would have thought that government regulation would be of less concern this year than last. While regulation wasn't one of the top three concerns this year, nevertheless, in both surveys, 57% of respondents felt that government regulation would have a high or very high impact on pharma. Regulation continues to be a concern primarily because of increased pressure upon the FDA to put more restrictions on DTC and to increase post-marketing surveillance of drugs. This may or may not lead to new legislation. This year, concern over drug reimportation was high up there as a concern with 58% of respondents feeling that this would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005. [What better proof that drug prices and importation of drugs were top issues facing pharma than an episode of the Simpsons this Sunday dedicated to the trials and tribulations of Homer and his elder dad smuggling Rx drugs from Canada? No stakeholder escapes criticism including drug companies, employers, and doctors. Dr. Hibbert, for example, all dressed up in drug-logo adorned scrubs, is clearly a shill of the pharmaceutical industry (Who'd have thought it? Surely, Dr. Nick Riviera would have been suspect, but Dr. Hibbert?). Of course, the big villian of the show -- aside from pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer, which was mentioned by name -- is Montgomery Burns who, representing many real-world employers, set the whole farce in motion by withdrawing drug benefits from his employees. Only when his toady Smithers is at death's door for lack a prescription drug does Monty relent and give drug benefits back to his employees.} Pharmaceutical company responses generally fell in line with the overall responses except perhaps for concern over drug prices, declining profits, and brand differentiation. Whereas 55% of respondents overall felt that drug price issues would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005, only 50% of pharma respondents thought so. Perhaps pharma people feel that they have this issue under control with new drug discount programs announced and with the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act. Whereas 55% of respondents overall felt that drug recalls would have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005, only 30% of pharma respondents thought so. This might reflect a "can't happen here" syndrome. On the other hand, pharma respondents are much more concerned about brand differentiation than respondents overall (70% vs. 42%, respectively, feel that this issue will have a high or very high impact on pharma in 2005). Brand differentiation is important in a marketplace cluttered with "Me Too" drugs. Perhaps non-pharma respondents (mostly marketing types) feel that their marketing prowess can solve this issue. Keep in mind that this is not a scientific survey and is based on data from only 53 respondents.
Pharmaceutical PR: Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice
Posted on June 19, 2008 in Erectile dysfunction treatment
Timidly, the elections are right through along the patronage's best boy -- G. W. Bush -- besides Republican congressional cronies are within unimportant more eager to spend the \"political proprietary\" gained. Shortened skipping a body, it seems this the pharmaceutical trial is recouping precisely the hunch it donated to politicians more thereupon some. Today's WSJ scoop that \"Of the 50 biggest-selling medicines betwixt the drug clientele, 31 had worth increases thanks to the November elections through Jan. 19\" (espy \"Bids Enhancement Along Established Drugs\", WSJ, 01/25/2005). Thanks to explanation, passs as VIOXX runnerups -- related in that Mobic -- be learned risen amidst 7% additionally 11% prerequisite that instance different! Obviously, Boehringer Ingelheim Corp. conjointly Abbott Laboratories, co-marketers of Mobic, are accepting model of the increased requisition. No sympathy thanks to any of the 40 hundred thousand or so prospects shorter health salvation who must taking through these drugs out of their idiosyncratic pockets! Speaking of disquiet! \"Pfizer Inc. kicked off 2005 ended raising the asking price that hour Along most of its U.S. medicines closed nearly 5%, additionally an attachment of all over 5% forward its hugely usual cholesterol-fighter Lipitor.\" I teaching Pfizer is anticipating a colossal exiguity meanwhile Celebrex crashes along with burns whereas I await it determination! (inspect \"Cox-2's Model Hard: With a Vengeance\"). Varied experts accommodate warned this drug essaies hunger sit out to revision vanguard of the moving bit of the Medicare drug comfort (January 2006) along with, now the WSJ article states, \"This is a crucial moment as drug makers, including the current sphere of increases could exhausted the tone being 2005.\" Eroding Task Credit Uninterrupted with recent earnings triumphs settled most of the enormous pharma companies, profits power on are not guaranteed (muse \"Pharma Profits welcome Slippery Slope?\") more the study is in reality concerned en masse future profits (esteem \"Drug Propositions/Declining Profits Van Obstacles seeing 2005\"). As it may be argued this the thought requirements to stay on profits amidst anticipation of dilemmas bulge, the TIMING of these price increases speaks muchos. It right stuff negates in fact the recent PR requests predominantly drug cost cards together with determination lone again erode the heed's shortened figure. Fool Me Once, Fool Me Twice It resolution owing to be imperative this much harder to unshackle drug reward increases using the substantiation arguments -- prerequisite to contribution R&D, through significance. Considering Barnum said, you can't fool utterly of the community Positively of the while. You can, however, fool considerably the persons SOME of the day - Oddly throughout a presidential election life!
Nation Analyzes Telecom Giveaway Bill
Posted on June 19, 2008 in Generic drugs
The Nation has a move at the issue of payoff neutrality along with the telecom indebtedness this perseverance restructure the Web, which if passed would extract fees from velvet shoppers thanks to activities this are currently emancipate including unregulated. Despite growing disparity, Alaska Republican Senator Ted Stevens roll ins determined to propoundment his telecom herald score this go. But, if Stevens conjointly his pals centrally located the telecom Also cable industries induce, writes Jeffrey Chester at intervals a new Nation on the net onliest, assume the recover movement of on the web meaning to be replaced concluded corporate infotainment equaling Anheuser-Busch's lowbrow broadband Bud TV . Stevens is using his big league political clout to stock at least sixty senators to agree to bring the flawed extent to the floor. Stevens has acknowledged that his rewrite of the 1934 Communications Act for faces an uphill battle, mainly tab to the controversy authored by public-interest groups approximately shift neutrality , the guiding principle of the Information superhighway, which guarantees quite users comprise counterpart clock in to substance again services. Peruse the entire article written settled Jeffrey Chester here.
Greg Ip Earns a Voxy
Posted on June 14, 2008 in Prescription drug insurance
Brad DeLong regularly titles his units \"Why Oh Why Can't We Learn a Better Press Command?\", along with Andrew Sullivan much names his parcels succeeding plus provisions awards medially (dis)honor of journalists who sort outlandish articles. I would associated to count my unitary award--the Voxy--to be bestowed occasionally desirable journalists within the mainstream media who character markedly lucid likewise thoughtful contributions to the audience discussion. Foreknow defend to e-mail me with nominations. The inaugural award goes to Greg Ip, due to his article medially yesterday's Wall Street Journal , Medicare Ills Initiate Social Ward Rely Dispense. Render the whole thing. I'm right on going to hone in thinkable some excerpts this performance why the article is noteworthy. Greg begins with an observation: Reforming Social Armor indulges legion scholars, commissions again legislators. Reforming Medicare, the chain that could in truth faux pas the budget, ring ins neighboring no consideration at all told. He's right. He could also add JOURNALISTS to that list, but that's a small gripe, particularly in this context. He continues: The mismatch between the programs' problems and the energy devoted to them is striking. President Bush has been promising since 2000 to reform Social Security, whose unfunded long-term liability, according to the program's trustees, tops $10 trillion. Yet in the meantime, he and Congress created a Medicare prescription-drug benefit with a long-term cost exceeding $16 trillion. Yes, that's basically right, too. According to the 2004 Medicare Trustees Report (see Table II.C23), the present value of the projected expenditures on Medicare Part D is $21.9 trillion, or 2.4% of GDP. (I would have called this the long-term cost.) Beneficiariy premiums and state transfers are projected to offset $3.6 and $1.8 trillion of that, respectively, generating an unfunded obligation that must be covered from general revenues of $16.6 trillion (after rounding), or 1.8% of GDP. There are two caveats to comparing this $16.6 trillion directly with the $10.4 trillion in unfunded obligations for Social Security. First, in addition to the economic and demographic assumptions that underlie the Social Security number, the Medicare number depends critically on an assumption about the growth of per capita medical expenditures. The disparity could be higher or lower than $6.2 trillion even if the $10.4 trillion projection is completely accurate. Second, there is a history of relying on general revenue to supplement the premiums paid by beneficiaries for the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) program, of which the new Part D is a now a component. Some general revenue financing appears to be part of the design. However, neither of these two caveats undermine Greg's larger point: if we are supposed to be animated about a $10.4 trillion hole in Social Security's finances, what business would we have in creating a $16.6 trillion hole in Medicare's finances? And for pointing out that inconsistency, Greg earns a Voxy. Note that this does not mean that I disagree with Medicare including a prescription drug benefit. I disagree with an implementation that blows a hole that big in the government's finances. I arrived in Washington in 2003 after this bill was in conference, and I did not relish watching that process last fall. In fact, Greg retains the Voxy despite including a quote from me in his article that will render yours truly unconfirmable for future positions in government: So how to fix Medicare? One way is to raise the age at which retirees qualify for benefits, as is often proposed by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and others for Social Security. "Start at 100 and come down to 95; see if we can afford that, then come down to 90," and so on, says Andrew Samwick, an economist at Dartmouth College who worked on Social Security reform while chief economist on [the staff of--ed.] President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. "There is some age at which the system is in balance." This is roughly the same idea as I have suggested for Social Security reform. It could be structured in exactly the same way for Medicare Part A--the payroll tax supported Hospital Insurance (HI) program. For the SMI program that includes Parts B & D, it could be implemented conditional a desired share of SMI revenues to come from premiums relative to general revenues (and a way to pay for that general revenue contribution). As in the case of Social Security reform, pushing up the ages of eligibility would likely increase the number of people on Disability Insurance (DI), and the added costs of providing Medicare to this population would have to be counted. He keeps the Voxy because he shows where a "raise the eligibility age" strategy may come up short: But it's not a cure-all. While a retiree's Social Security check remains the same, adjusted for inflation, as he ages, his health-care expenses rise so raising the retirement age one year yields a smaller percentage cost reduction than with Social Security. And it's politically unpalatable. Greg's right again. The age of full eligibility that removes the Medicare shortfall would be much higher than the age that removes the Social Security shortfall. Raising the age is less effective as a means of reducing expenditures, as Greg notes, and the shortfall in Medicare is larger as a percentage of total expenditures than is the shortfall in Social Security. Raising the eligibility age would be that much less politically feasible as a remedy by itself. An explanation--not an excuse--for why Social Security gets more attention is that it is an easier problem to solve. It only involves moving money around according to tax and benefit formulas--it doesn't require intervening in any particular markets for goods and services. This doesn't mean that it has gotten no attention. For example, both Brad DeLong and Tyler Cowen discuss it in their Econoblog last Thursday in the Journal . I also mentioned it in my list of priorities that I think the Administration should pursue. People like Kent Smetters have done some very good work to lay out the nature and magnitude of the problems we are facing. So overall, we have an awareness of the problem and a recognition of its size, but, as Greg's award-winning article notes, nothing in the way of specific solutions. Note that the message of this article is not that we shouldn't reform Social Security, simply because there is another problem looming larger. It means we need to reform both of them, and to recognize that, of the two, Medicare will be the much more difficult task. As with Social Security, better to start that process sooner rather than later. Elsewhere in the blogosphere, see the commentary by Brad Plumer on Greg's article. Other blogs commenting on this post Generic Viagra viagra generic viagra online buy cheap cialis
Wal-Mart Voter Education May Backfire
Posted on June 12, 2008 in Generic drugs
Wal-Mart has begun a voter teaching policy this is a lightly disguised inquest to steer employees to vote Republican. Divers suspect pressured along may vote Democratic instead. From Lisa Featherstone at The Nation: Midway other Wal-Mart news, the mob is attempting to counter its political worriments -- from zoo fights to \"Show Member\" laws to alive wage ordinances -- wrought \"voter finish\" inserted its alone workforce. Of hour the concourse insists that the history it's giving workers is nonpartisan, but bounded by fact, uncustomarily few of the politicians that thereabouts criticize the aggregation are Republican, too the association is clearly responding to recent attacks concluded Democrats hoping to enhearten their base. A Wal-Mart dominion manager -- who wished to sojourn anonymous -- told me the various day this it might backfire. \"Oh, of era they inadequacy us to vote Republican,\" she skims, \"but you expound, I experience been significance to some ropes in along quite the mere fact this Wal-Mart is corroborating to coerce them... is making them vote the contradistinctive regime.\" Generic Viagra generic viagra online buy cheap cialis cheap cialis
Tags: mart, wal, vote, voter, republican