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Sweetie Pie

A $350 million class action law suit, just the kind Republicans rail against, has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and names the makers of aspartame (aka, NutraSweet/Equal) as defendants and charges that the implicated defendants knowingly manufactured and marketed a "deadly neurotoxin unfit for human consumption". Interestingly, Donald Rumsfeld is mentioned throughout the lawsuit. Now that we've peeked readers' interest, on with the show....

Historically, the FDA denied approval of aspartame for some 16 years; a body of compelling evidence had been compiled which implicated the additive in contributing to the development of brain tumours and other "adverse reactions". In fact, diabetic specialist H.J.Roberts, M.D., had discovered aspartame can precipitate or aggravate diabetes and its complications. That all sounds rather damning but as we now well know, NutraSweet is everywhere. So what happened and how on earth, gentle readers must be thinking, has Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld managed to insert himself into this frey? Well....

Known unknown, Donald Rumsfeld, had been Gerald Ford's chief of staff (yes, this man has been wallowing in the White House for quite some time). He left the Ford administration and became the CEO of aspartame producer, G.D. Searle. Soon after Rumsfeld became CEO at Searle and one day after Reagan's inauguration in 1981, aspartame suddenly became a safe and wonderful additive and was approved as such by Reagan appointed FDA Commissioner Arthur Hayes. This, despite objections of the FDA's own Public Board of Inquiry. Sometime later, Hayes then signed a 10 year contract with NutraSweet's public relations firm at $1000 a day. That's not just a sweet deal, that's a NutraSweet deal! To add further slime to the mold, the FDA once tallied complaints from consummers and detailed some 92 unpleasant side-effects of aspartame consumption and include seizures, blindness, obesity, and various organ tumours. In 1996, the FDA stopped receiving complaints and now denies the existance of any such reporting.

Reagan was proud to claim that government was not the solution, it was the problem. Right you were, Ronnie. Especially your government.


The Sweet Hereafter....

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Conspicuous Consumption

CBS had now apologised for presenting those memos of Bush's National Guard service as original documents. Oops. None of this really matters, of course, and the content of the documents has never been in dispute, merely their origin. Like the Swiftboat nonsense, the whole affair has done the one thing Republicans needed it to do. As a NY Times article puts it,

a deepening mystery that has consumed a week of the presidential campaign.

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School House Shock

One of the nation's largest charter school operators collapsed, leaving 6,000 students with no school to attend this fall. The businessman who used $100 million in state financing to build an empire of 60 mostly storefront schools had simply abandoned his headquarters as bankruptcy loomed, refusing to take phone calls.

The disintegration of the California Charter Academy, the largest chain of publicly financed but privately run charter schools to slide into insolvency, offers a sobering picture of what can follow. Thousands of parents were forced into a last-minute search for alternate schools, and some are still looking; many teachers remain jobless; and students' academic records are at risk in abandoned school sites across California.

As with the collapse of Enron, we are now awaiting the highly anticipated trumpeting of privatisation/free-market wonks that the financial mismanagement and ultimate collapse of privately run schools in California wonderfully demonstrates the natural, self-correcting perfection of free-market forces. Indeed, 6,000 now-schooless students across the state are an excellent example of the hidden hand doing its righteous and mighty work:

Don't you feel lucky, kids, for your part in showing the country that free-market forces are great for everything and everybody? Ignore those unpleasant little "glitches" every now and then; those really don't mean anything in the long term. Yeah, you might be out of school for a few weeks, months maybe, and your academic records might never be seen again, but really, the big picture is soooo much bigger than you, so please, spare us the bellyaching. Bask in the fuzzy warmth of free-market forces while your parents scramble to find a school which, hopefully, will not collapse under a cascade of financial and regulatory malfeasance next week.


Privitisation Rules....

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Health Care is for Communists

Now isn't this a surprise: Medicare is costing more under private health plans. Yes, gentle readers, it seems Congress is in a bit of a bunch after deftly passing Bush's gigantic Medicare bill without actually reading it and now they have "expressed concern" that the new plan is paying more to private plans than traditional Medicare.

Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) notes that "large overpayments to H.M.O.'s were built into the bill" and wonders why people in traditional Medicare subsidise people in private plans. Uh, Jeff, hello. Why didn't any of you bozos bother to ask this question, or any other question for that matter, when the bill was in Congress, being snuck through in a Republican rigged vote in the secret of night?

Even Republicans are now starting to realise that something was wrong with what they did in passing this bill. Former Senator Dave Durenberger (R-Mn), and a member of the Medicare commission said, "there appears to be no good reason why private plans should be given more money per capita than is given through the traditional fee-for-service system." There is only one problem with this statement, Dave. It's too late.

So it would now seem that the HMOs are already seeing a significant, oh what's that term? return-on-investment from their GOP campaign contributions. Meanwhile, Bush is criticising Kerry health care plan, claiming "it's a plan that is massive and it's big." This from the man who lied to Congress about the costs of his monumental $500+ billion Medicare bill so he could get it passed Congress. And without an actual reason as to why this might be so, Bush echoes the immutable cry of the Republican Health Care Guard:

The nationalization of health care would be wrong for the American citizen

We at the BHC have always been puzzled by this Republican fear of a national health care system, as though what is in place now is so vastly superior to anything those flakey Canadians or Brits or Swedes have managed to come up with, it bears absolutely no consideration. Because, clearly, if one goes to Canada or Britian or Sweden, you will see that they are places of such foulness and pestilence, people are keeling over dead in the streets.

The other oddness about the anti-health care stance is that it is simply inconsistant with other American policies and programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. No one seriously discusses junking these programs and they are generally viewed by Americans as a good thing. Indeed, they do and will have their problems but they are discussed as things that need fixing not dismantling. The position is truly bizarre: national health care for the elderly is good and we must make it better, cheaper. National health care for anyone else? No way!

Read it....

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Ban Ban, You're Dead

Republican-controlled Congress has allowed the 10 year old assault weapons ban, aka the Brady bill, to evaporate into the NRA funded ether. In a demonstration of his keen public sensibilities, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tn) noted, "I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire." Frist's sypathetic concern for the "will of the American people" unfortunately appears to be rather limited in scope and to a rather small minority of Americans. In fact, a poll conducted by the National Annenberg Election Survey found that 71 percent of Americans favour extending the ban on assault weapons. So much for that favour.

And as much as the White House and the Republicans love to boast of their admiration of America's "first responders", i.e. police, EMTs, firefighters, they certainly have no admiration for their opinions. DC police chief, Charles H. Ramsey, claims that the repeal of the ban "would be a catastrophic leap backward." The BHC needs to correct Ramsey's statement at this point: repeal of the ban is a catastrophic leap backward. The BHC knows, of course, the real reason Congress and the White House allowed this to happen: between the serious business of banning gay marriage, restricting stem-cell research and fretting about the Pledge of Allegiance, there is simply no time to waste on niggling little things like curtailing gun violence.


Read it....

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Beauty, eh?

The Bush campaign has been spinning the National Guard brouhaha faster than Johnny G could ever dream and in Dan Bartlett's interview on CBS, the GOP mouthpiece tried to point out the sweet deal to be had in the National Guard.

President Bush was working with the commanders at that point, at that time, to find out how he could fulfill his duties, as well as meet the duties in civilian life. That's one of the beauties of the National Guard system, that you can do both.

Yes, that is indeed one of the beauties. Another one would be that the Texas Air National Guard doesn't plunk your ass down in the middle of the stinking jungles of Vietnam. Yoo hoo! Now that's a beauty!

The BHC can't help but point out another curiously worded phrase in Bartlett's buffering: "find out how he could fulfill his duties". Now, we're fairly sure that the National Guard has a good idea of what a guardsman's duties are and, at least in most cases, so do the folks who sign up for them. The BHC is also fairly certain this is written down somewhere, probably with W's signature confirming his agreement to those duties. What's to find out? Perhaps it is merely being noted that, since even Bush admits he doesn't read much, he just needed someone to explain what it was he had signed.


Blah, blah, blah....

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Con-currency

The BHC noticed a concurrence of two stories in the press recently. One described how the US is pushing for the UN to bring Iran in front of the Security Council for their suspected weapons program. The other story discussed how Bush is managing to avoid even discussing the touchy subjects of Iran and North Korea, the two countries of the Axis of Evil which are actually known to have some weapons and possibly even nuclear capabilities; countries Bush completely ignored in favour of attacking "grave and gathering threat" Iraq.

The concurrency of these two stories represents a curious but not uncommon situation: US forces (of some kind) executing a Bush administration action while Bush himself manages to completely ignore the issue during the campaign. He is well aware that Iran is appearing to be a grave concern, that the 9/11 commission pointed out evidence that Iran may have, at least tacitly, harboured or given safe passage to Al Qaeda terrorists. He is fully aware that he should now be held responsible for having completely overlooked the developing situation there even as he described that country and N. Korea--also in the news for its nuclear development efforts and recent huge explosion no one seemed to fully understand at the time--as part of the Axis of Evil. The political dexterity is truly amazing to watch. Of course, he is extremely well-aided by a somnabulant American public, stultified by an equally inattentive media. Both appear unable or unwilling to listen and comprehend anything of substance. The most passionate discourse this campaign has seen focused on fonts and when Kerry does raise substantive issues, a quick dismissal ensues because, you know, Kerry's a flip-flopper. Another masterful stroke on the part of the GOP campaign apparatus which has managed to inveigh Kerry with that term when Bush has a record of flip-flopping which is, to say the least, astonishing.


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The Truth Shall Be...Annoying

So, Kofi Annan finally came out and said it: according the UN Security Council charter, the invasion of Iraq was "illegal". Annan is not exactly stepping out on a limb with this not-so-bold statement but, surely as the sun will rise, the diplomats, policy wonks and other yammering heads began yowling with outrage, or, as the NY Times put it, Annan's statement "set off a tempest of reaction". Some nameless British official claims that "the timing was horrible, We can't figure out what he was trying to do." Yeah, speaking the truth like that. How grotesquely irresponsible! Now, this is hardly a new position for Annan or the UN, though they have never had the gonads to actually say this before. In fact, estranged Iraq War hawk, Richard Perle, in November of 2003, admitted himself that the invasion was illegal.

So why are they howling about these words? In part, because that's what policy wonks and yammering heads do. But then Annan further outraged these folks with such statements like, "You cannot have credible elections if the security conditions continue as they are now." This seems like a perfectly reasonable and obvious thing given the current and worsening situation in Iraq. Bush's own National Intelligence Estimate of late July has described three possible paths for the situation in Iraq, from a steady-state of continuous, grinding urban guerilla warfare where dozens or hundreds of people are killed every week, ad infinitum, to outright bloody civil war. In other words, nothing good. Freedom and democracy do not appear front and center in any of these scenarios.

We at the BHC recognise that there is something horrible in all this and it is definitely not Kofi Annan speaking the truth. It is the dreadful reality on the ground in Iraq and the mismanagement of the war effort which has rapidly spiraled out of control. We note in a single 30 hour period this past week, the terrible litany of chaos and bloodshed was astounding:

Twenty people were killed and 39 wounded when American fighter planes fired at targets in Falluja.

A suicide car bomb packed with artillery shells exploded outside police headquarters...ripping into a crowd...killing at least 47 people and wounding 114 others

A drive-by ambush...gunmen sprayed a van carrying police officers, killing a dozen people in the restive city of Baquba.

...another car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad.

...Saboteurs blew up a recently repaired pipeline junction Tuesday and the fire set off a cascade of power blackouts....

It is apparent to any thinking person that the conditions in Iraq are truly out of control. The "reconstruction" of Iraq, or lack thereof, is practically at a stand still and even Senators Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind) are fuming: "It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing. It is now in the zone of dangerous."

With all this on display before the American public, Bush tromps out on the campaign trail and what does he say? BHC readers probably have a good idea:

Freedom is on the march

In what possible world is he living?

Feel the burn....

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Wall Street Freaks

Oil prices shot up more than $1 a barrel Monday as traders focused on the changing path of Hurricane Ivan, which prompted several large oil and natural gas producers to evacuate rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

"It's all fear, it's all speculative buying," said Agbeli Ameko, managing partner at the Denver-based energy research firm Enercast.com, adding that the actual loss of supply, at least for now, was negligible.

Is this really the mentality with which Bush and Republicans would wish to put in charge of Social Security? Well, yes it is and that was merely a rhetorical question. The real question is do you want to trust your retirement funds to a mentality like this? The slightest whiff of anything, and those Wall Street pantywaists are on the phone to mommy, selling the farm.


Be sure to wipe...

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Blow Hard

Not only did Hurricane Ivan have Wall Street wankers wobbly at the knees, the powerful low-pressure weather system is apparently a high-pressure political system, as well. It seems that Ralph Nader is now being included in Florida ballots despite a court order to the contrary.

Dawn Roberts, Division of Elections director and, as readers might well imagine, a Jeb Bush appointee, said the uncertainty of Hurricane Ivan forced her to act.

Blow the man down...

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Tired and Pathetic

No, these are not words being spoken about George Bush. These are words being spoken by George Bush about John Kerry's campaign rhetoric:

You'll hear the same rhetoric you hear every campaign, believe me — `They're going to take away Social Security checks.' It's the most tired, pathetic way to campaign for the presidency.

Apparently, ol Georgie still believes that the tried and true method of Republican campaigning, smearing military records of opponents, is still zippy, fresh and effective. Bush further criticises Kerry's health care plan, something Bush doesn't actually bother himself with making, by claiming that "he can't pay for it unless he raises your taxes." Of course, Bush can't pay for anything he has recently promised either, but at least he won't raise your taxes. Now that's modern conservative thinking: spend, spend, spend and let someone else pay for it. Yeehaa!


Read it....

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Climb On

Consumer Prices Climb; Jobless Claims Up
Consumer prices barely budged in August

The first line above was the headline of a story in the NY Times on Sept 16. The second line above was the first sentence of the lede paragraph.*

We at the BHC are generally disinclined toward the belief that the mainstream is engaged in a vast left-wing liberal bias conspiracy, especially when that opinion is espoused by such right-wing luminaries as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. In fact, them shreiking these claims is as near a guarantee as one can get that it cannot possibly be so. Now, this is not to say that there is not often a slant to stories and lately the slanting has been going against Bush, as it rightfully should after the media fawned over horrific White House plans for the future of America and the rest of the world. But, occassionally, these claims spring forth in our minds when we see such stories as this. NY Times loudly displays a headline: Consumer Prices Climb; Jobless Claims Up. More bad economic news for Bush and the country; not really surprising. Now what will someone who actually reads the first sentence of this story see? This, "Consumer prices barely budged in August".

The NY Times seems to be saying, hey, we gave Bush a break and he has shafted everyone and clearly has no idea what the hell to do with Iraq. We apologised for laying down on the job and but now we're going to do some shafting. Unfortunately, this sort of behaviour on the part of major news engines merely feeds the frothy mouths of the right-wing chattering class and this what the BHC really objects to in this sort of behaviour. As we have pointed out here many, many times, the bad news surrounds Bush like a Pigpen dust cloud and there is no need to fabricate and mislead. That's the White House's job.

*N.B. At some time unknown, this headline was changed. If you click through to this link now, you will see the headline, "Price Index Up Just 0.1% Last Month". Apparently, someone at the Times woke up, even before they read the BHC. But that doesn't change that fact that as first reported, on the front page, NY Times used the orginal headline.

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Is a Horse of Course

Our final item comes to us from across the pond, and we can usually count on those crazy Brits to brew up some hilarity, along with a nice pot of tea. They seem able to generate "furious rows" nearly continuously and this one is no exception.

Aptly named author, James Naughtie, is about to publish a book in which he claims to have evidence that Colin Powell described his neo-con collegues, namely Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz, as "fucking crazies." These words will appear on the jacket of the book much to the chagrin of Mr. Powell. Despite most reasonable folks probabaly thinking that this isn't too far off the mark, Powell has vehemently denied, or vigorously denied, whichever might seem the stronger denial, ever saying such a thing no matter what he might actually believe. Colin, really, why fight it? We all know you're retiring soon. Just enjoy the moment.


Naughtie bits....

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Whew, that's a load.