Obama inherited a cheater's loosing hand. It's past time to fold. You know, doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. The wars (GWOT) are already a huge bloodbath (genocide?) that have destabilized the region for years to come. Isolationism is not what I'm advocating (but then, what is Gaza?). We're in Afghanistan for the opium, the pipeline, the bases and, of course, the profit.
Are you a "message force multiplier"?
As a note, you mispelled "Internet" in the first paragraph.
I was almost unable to get past the line in the second paragraph:
"Thanks to Obama's use of the Internet, politics in America will never be the same."
That is true, but only in the most horrible ways. The politics of the USA will be worse than ever before, brainwashing and propaganda rising to all new heights.
I read through most of the rest of the article (except the headings for things I already know too well). Overall good article, thanks for posting.
Arnett has presented no evidence that secondhand smoke is not harmful; he has done no more than challenge evidence presented for the claim that it is harmful.
Even the 2003 "definitive paper on SHS and lung cancer mortality...published in the British Medical Journal" that "found no statistically significant association between exposure to SHS and lung cancer mortality" didn't "show secondhand smoke is no danger"; that is <i>not</i> the same thing as not finding an association.
Arnett says,
<blockquote>"Millions of dollars have been spent promoting belief in SHS as a killer, and more millions of dollars have been spent by businesses in order to comply with thousands of highly restrictive bans, while personal choice and freedom have been denied to millions of smokers."</blockquote>
He doesn't mention that the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Heartland_Institute#Tobacco_ties">Heartland Institute</a>, on whose website this article appears, gets funding from the tobacco industry, as does the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Competitive_Enterprise_Institute#Tobacco_Industry_Funding">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a>, with which he is <a href="http://cei.org/content/jerome-arnett">affiliated</a>.
Arnett deserves a booby prize for sticking that title on that article, and you, Mr./Ms. Anonymous, deserve one for uncritical cutting and pasting. Are you by any chance trying to convince yourself that your own secondhand smoke isn't hurting anyone?
Commenting with respect to HCAN - I recently attended my first HCAN sponsored Health Reform Meeting in CT (yes, aka "Health Insurance Capitol of the
World") and I got up and asked why the group was still trying to work with the insurance companies and also directed this question to Congressman Himes, to explain why the Administration has abandoned the concept as well. BTW, this question did provoke loud applause from the other attendees. HCAN's rep looked (to me) somewhat sheepish and replied (I am paraphrasing here), that it became apparent to them when they worked with Hillary Clinton on health care reform that there was no way to fight the corporate interests (insurance, hosptials, pharma) and that is when the group started working almost exclusively to get public funds for political candidates, laying the ground work (I assume) to populated the legislature and senate with people who were not beholding to these interests. How successful that has been, especially in light of all the money from health insurers and the like that Clinton and Obama (among countless others) is pretty doubtful. Himes stated that if he had to give odds on the passage of a bill for health care reform he gave it an 80% chance as it is currently (which includes the corporations) and a 0% chance is single payer were part of the plan.
I truly do not think the corporations want to be in the health insurance business for too much longer (aging baby boomers=increased costs) - my theory is that they are actually angling for the government to do EXACTLY what Obama and HCAN etc plan - to pay THEM to deliver services under a govt sponsored plan - basically a tax payer subsidy for the health care industry. I believe both sides "know" this but our side keeps silent thinking that if we were to say that the country is stepping into providing health care at a time that will statistically be the most expensive we are just handing ammunition to the other side.
If I had to guess I would say that HCAN and the like are making a deal with the devil in the hopes of whittling away at the corporations powers from the edges rather than taking a frontal attack. Look, that may work (eventually) and may be the ONLY way given our screwed up system. I look at the demonstrations in France and England and I can't understand why the American people are so meek about something they obviously want. I believe that a frontal attack against the health care industry would only be successful if we in America did what people in France and England do - fear is a two way street afterall.
To that end I am traveling to Washington DC for a Health Care Reform rally on May 13th. Anyone reading this post - if you can make your voice heard and join us!
Power to the People!
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