An Open Letter to the President

Published on Saturday, June 4, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Open Letter to President Barack Obama from E.coli 0104:H4

by Ralph Nader

June 3, 2011

Dear President Obama:

My name is E.coli 0104:H4. I am being detained in a German Laboratory in Baveria, charged with being "a highly virulent strain of bacteria." Together with many others like me, the police have accused us of causing about 20 deaths and nearly five hundred cases of kidney failure--so far. Massive publicity and panic all around.

You can't see me, but your scientists can. They are examining me and I know my days are numbered. I hear them calling me a "biological terrorist," an unusual combination of two different E.coli bacteria cells. One even referred to me as a "conspiracy of mutants".

It is not my fault, I want you to know. I cannot help but harm innocent humans, and I am very sad about this. I want to redeem myself, so I am sending this life-saving message straight from my Petri dish to you.

This outbreak in Germany has been traced to food--location unknown. What is known to you is that invisible terrorism from bacterium and viruses take massively greater lives than the terrorism you are spending billions of dollars and armaments to stop in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Malaria, caused by infection with one of four species of Plasmodium, a parasite transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes destroys a million lives a year. Many of the victims are children and pregnant women. Mycobacterium tuberculosis takes nearly three million lives. The human immuno-deficiency virus (HIV) causes over a million deaths. Many other microorganisms in the water, soil, air, and food are daily weapons of mass destruction. Very little in your defense budget goes for operational armed forces against this kind of violence. Your agencies, such as the Center for Disease Control, conduct some research but again nothing compared to the research for your missiles, drones, aircraft and satellites.

Your associates are obsessed with possible bacteriological warfare by your human enemies. Yet you are hardly doing anything on the ongoing silent violence of my indiscriminate brethren.

You and your predecessor George W. Bush made many speeches about fighting terrorism by humans. Have you made a major speech about us?

You speak regularly about crushing the resistance of your enemies. But you splash around so many antibiotics (obviously I don't like this word and consider it genocidal) in cows, bulls, chickens, pigs and fish that your species is creating massive antibiotic resistance, provoking our mutations, so that we can breed even stronger progeny. You are regarded as the smartest beings on Earth, yet you seem to have too many neurons backfiring.

In the past two days of detention, scientists have subjected me to "enhanced interrogation," as if I have any will to give up my secrets. It doesn't work. What they will find out will be from their insights about me under their microscopes. I am lethal, I guess, but I'm not very complicated.

The United States, together with other countries, needs more laboratories where scientists can detain samples of us and subject us to extraordinary rendition to infectious disease research centers. Many infectious disease scientists need to be trained, especially in the southern hemispheres to staff these labs

You are hung up on certain kinds of preventable violence without any risk/benefit analysis. This, you should agree, is utterly irrational. You should not care where the preventable violence comes from except to focus on its range of devastation and its susceptibility to prevention or cure!

Well, here they come to my Petri dish for some more waterboarding. One last item: You may wonder how tiny bacterial me, probably not even harboring a virus, can send you such a letter. My oozing sense is that I'm just a carrier, being used by oodles of scientists taking advantage of a high profile infectious outbreak in Europe to catch your attention.

Whatever the how does it really matter to the need to act Now?

E-cologically yours,

E.coli 0104:H4 (for the time being)

Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer, and author. His most recent book - and first novel - is, Only The Super-Rich Can Save Us. His most recent work of non-fiction is The Seventeen Traditions.

This letter immediately reminded me of the Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln because of the importance of its contents, its simplicity, and clarity of thought. I do not understand why its message has not been mentioned by the mainstream media or why others have not thought of the defense of our Nation in terms of those things that represent a definite clear and present danger to everyone who lives in the United States - it is just a question of common sense.

Most of defense spending should be dedicated to defending Americans against what most threatens them: disease, our crumbling infrastructure, the contamination of our environment, and the destruction of our most important resources (fresh water, fertile soil, marine life, and the oceans themselves). Put into proper perspective, the threat of "global terrorism" is infinitely less than any one of these threats and weaknesses - as are the probabilities that we will be attacked by another nation. Moreover, addressing these threats and weaknesses represents the most significant opportunity we have for economic growth and increased prosperity for the people of the United States and for those of the entire world.

Unfortunately, as an old Spanish Proverb states, "Common sense is the least common of the senses." If we fail to pay attention to defending ourselves against the most common and frequent clear and present dangers to ourselves, they will destroy us. It is that simple. If our society succumbs to these dangers and weaknesses, it will be because we willingly and knowingly chose ignorance over common sense.

The Truth about Torture and the Hunt for Bin Laden

This letter from Elisa Massimino, President and CEO, Human Rights First, published in the Organization's monthly "Rites Wire" of June 2011 is a trenchant, concise, and irrefutable analysis of the role of torture in the search for Bin Laden. (Surprisingly, it also demonstrates that not all of Senator McCain's principals have been compromised to gain points with tea baggers or the extreme right):

From the President and CEO

News of the Osama bin Laden operation wasn't even a day old when torture apologists began claiming vindication. To hear former vice president Dick Cheney and his allies tell it, without the CIA's water-boarding program, the United States would never have found bin Laden. Cheney and company want Americans to believe that torture makes us safe, and they don't seem to care about the dangers it poses—to our national security, our national character, and our men and women in uniform.

But their propaganda push has run into a few hurdles, otherwise known as facts. The truth is that torture hindered the hunt for bin Laden. It failed to get critical information, and two detainees lied under torture, setting back the investigation. In fact, just like the operation that led to Saddam Hussein, it was legal, humane interrogation that produced the key intelligence—not torture. This was no surprise to the many veteran interrogators who for years have argued that torture is inefficient and counterproductive.

Armed with these facts, opponents of torture are setting the record straight. After getting the inside story from CIA director Leon Panetta, Senator John McCain took to the Senate floor to reveal that the bin Laden operation had nothing to do with torture, and Americans shouldn't either. I went to the American Enterprise Institute to debate the issue with prominent torture supporters, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, on a panel moderated by John Yoo. Watch the debate here.

But the renewed debate has made clear that we can't sit back and let the torture apologists speak unopposed. We're doing everything we can to strengthen the consensus against torture. As the hunt for Bin Laden shows, torture isn't just wrong; it's also wrongheaded.

Sincerely,

Elisa Massimino
President and CEO
Human Rights First

Thoughts on a Progressive Facebook Program for the 2012 Elections

Everyone should focus as much energy as her/he can, both personal energy (and that of the others we may recruit) on truly vital issues and leave the fight about who is really a progressive aside. This bickering is is one way the servants of the 10% who own 90% of the nation's wealth distract the public's attention.

My suggestion is that each of us organize local groups that establish opposition to the Citizens United Decision as a litmus test for defining acceptable candidates for all races (governors, state legislatures, mayors, assembly members, judges, district attorneys, sheriffs, etc.). We will have to move fast to have an affect on the primaries. By doing this, we can begin to use the successful tactics of the Repugnants and their lords and masters.

Repugnant success is due to their short-sighted emphasis on a very small number of issues: "Abortion"; "Allowing Religion in Public Schools"; "Sex Education;" "Big government;" the "War on Terror"; the "Deficit"; and "Jobs". We must not forget the Big Ticket issues of the evangelical wing of the Repugnants, "Family Values;" "the Defense of Marriage;" and "Secular Humanism." They have no need to stipulate real programs to address these issues. All they do is give tirades against or for these issues and attack their opponents by saying they are amoral secular humanists, "Big government" types who support everything that the Repugnants define as bad for America as well as oppose everything that the Repugnants say is good and necessary for America. Repugnant success based on this system illustrates a weakness of Progressive candidates.

Progressive candidates and their supporters tend to carefully build up the facts and rationale for their programs. They then outline a course of action. Unfortunately, a very large percentage of the population does not want facts, figures, and details. All these people want is to be told how they should react emotionally to the issues defined as "essential" by the media, the Repugnants, and the propaganda campaigns created by the publicity machines built by the right-wing super rich and the "Independent Evangelical Christian Right." Breaking this indoctrination requires that Progressives take some pages from the Repugnant playbook and use them against those who created this system by establishing make-or-break, black & white issues and hammer away at them.

1. As I said at the beginning, the first issue must be "Citizens United" and every progressive must mount a very strong and simple way of opposing this -- in the same way that the Repugnants have used "Roe v. Wade" and "Brown v. Board of Education".

2. Progressives must use every opportunity they have to condemn in the strongest of terms the privatization of Medicare and Social Security. Progressives must "tattoo" a very large line in the minds of the electorate that anything that might reduce Medicare or Social Security must be rejected and that anyone proposing to do so must be rejected as well.

3. Progressives need to wage all out war against the petroleum industry. We need to demonstrate to America that "Big Oil" is making higher profits than it ever has and that the compensation packages, perks, and other incentives given to top managers has grown to obscene levels. Levels that actually have a direct effect on the price of gasoline. The second part of this issue is demonstrating that, because of the number of incentives, tax breaks, and other Repugnant support schemes, Big Oil not only does not pay taxes, it actually receives funds from the income taxes paid by the middle class.

4. The next issue should move from "Big Oil" to "Big Companies" in general. Again, progressives must hammer a way at corporate taxes and incentives as well as tax breaks for the top 1%. Here too, progressives need to provoke strong emotional reactions to: "corporate welfare" as well as to the de facto tax-free status of huge corporations and the super-rich.

5. The forth issue should be the loss and exporting of jobs. Progressives need to be very emotionally opposed to this and call for legislation that would tax companies for every job they export or have exported. The candidates should constantly emphasize that the Repugnants not only are not against the exporting of jobs, but reward job exporters with tax breaks. This issue also includes the fact that the Repugnants and their masters are not only interested in exporting every job they can, but want to destroy any kind of job security and basic programs, such as health care, that workers and middle managers currently have. It is here where Progressives need to put a great deal of effort to the promotion of measures that protect the right of Americans to organize and unionize.

6. The banking industry and the financial markets must be re-regulated to ensure that there will no longer be companies that are "too big to fail." Other regulations and tax law must be put into place that would take away existing incentives that allow companies like "Harley Davidson" to shut down as much production as possible because the company can obtain higher profits by dedicating as many of the company's resources to as possible to investment banking,

7. The ability of the EPA and the FDA to regulate the industries they were made to regulate must be increased exponentially. The Repugnants and their masters simply do not care about the world we will leave behind to our descendants.

Finally, these seven issues should be tied together in order to create a very strong emotional certainty that these seven issues prove that the top 1% of the population is waging all out economic war on the lower 90%.

The Blitz - Implementing a New Culture

Marketing an Organization

Introduction

I ask all of you to be patient with this, in a way it could be considered my life's work. I planned to put this system forward in a book, but I don't want my ideas used to further and strengthen consumerism-something I think of as the cancer that will cause our extinction if we fail to recognize it and direct our energies to our real needs as human beings. Before we start with the actual marketing system, I want to give you an overview of my career so that you can see that it is a system that works.

I had the good fortune to work with a man who knows more about business, marketing, and market research than anyone I have ever met or read (and that is a considerable number people from the world over). During that time I began to see that the products that succeed, in spite of the best efforts of those marketing them, are the ones that mean something to those who make them, those who recommend them, and those who use them. I then had the chance to put my insights into practice, first in Mexico and then Internationally and they worked extremely well. How well? I was living in Mexico and working for a privately held firm and I was number 2 in the company and the number 1 spot was, and is being held by the owner. I took a chance and took the job of Market Research Manager at Wyeth Mexico, S.A. de C.V.

This was a big risk. In most pharmaceutical firms in Mexico, the Market Research Manager gets about as much respect as a kicker of a football team, but the Marketing Dept. was in complete disarray. After less than months with the company, nothing was done in the department without my approval. Two months later, the President instructed me to write the entire marketing plan for the coming year. When I asked how I was to work with the two therapeutic area managers and their product managers, he told me not to work with them. I was to write the entire plan, for the company as a whole, for both therapeutic areas, and for every product. At the same time, he expanded my responsibility to Manager of Business Development. To make a long story short, after three years with the company, I was given the additional responsibility of Director of Women's Healthcare – the company's most important franchise. After 12 months, we doubled our market share of one product line and the annual growth rate of the sales of the other line in terms of tablets sold went from 3% to 18%, even though we had to double the price of the product during those 12 months.. After that, three and a half years as an employee of Wyeth Mexico, I was transferred to Wyeth-Ayerst International as a Product Manager of one of our product lines. Ten months later I was named Director of Women's Healthcare.

During the past ten years that I have been incapacitated, I have had the chance to effect a minutial review of every research report, every market analysis, every consulting project, every marketing plan, strategic review, as well as every strategy and tactic I and those who worked with me made during my career. What follows is a description of how I succeeded, even though I might not have been completely aware of it at the time.

Overview

Understood correctly, marketing is nothing more than a process of definition. At the most simple level, a company or an organization takes raw material applies energy to it and creates a product. What has been forgotten (if anyone was ever been completely cognizant of it) is that these three things are the same regardless of the nature of the company or organization.

The real raw material of any kind of economic organization is people. Not the “we recognize that our most valuable resource is our people” platitude found in every worthless exercise known as “mission statements.” Here “people” should be understood as anyone who intervenes or can intervene in the creation and adoption of the product.

Energy, as it applies to any economic organization, is information. Information is at the heart of the activities of any organization and it is subject to the same forces as those set forward in the laws of thermodynamics – especially entropy. Even monetary resources are a form of information. Money really is nothing more than a measure of the rate of adoption of your product and a symbol of the possible leverage you may be able to exercise over the raw material.

Finally there is the product. This is the most difficult thing for many to understand, but the product is not the thing that is sold. The product is what it means to be a person who: designs, creates, discovers, makes, recommends, sells, buys, and purchases (or joins) it. In short, the product is a culture. If it is not, it is simply a commodity that is replaceable by any other similar commodity (the failure to recognize this was the cause of the tremendous decline of the American automobile companies). What then are the things produced by companies or organizations – cars, planes, food, medication, books, services, etc.? These are the tools with which the raw material is worked and converted into part of the product: the culture - everything done by the company or organization.

What does all this mean for “The Blitz”? It means that we must establish and create a very trenchant, concise definition of who we are, why are we together, what we offer, and to whom we offer it. This is much more than a mission statement. I have observed a number of companies and divisions of companies spend tens of thousands of dollars on these and I have participated in the role of consultant, observer, participant and moderator. I have never seen a company really benefit from the exercise. The reason for the failure of mission statements is the same reason party platforms are meaningless: They are designed to appeal to everyone and to offend no one. In turn, the culture definition works because it gives people (the raw material) a short declaration that informs their decisions about the product/culture and an immediate and strong emotional link to it. In our case, THE BLITZ.

Two of the the best statements of culture I know of are those of the Marines and that of West Point: Simper Fi and Honor, Duty, Country. They are short and cannot be misconstrued. They may not be always followed, but their meanings are clear. (I do not want to enter into the controversies surrounding the Armed Forces. But, if every officer really internalized these words, the conduct of the officers and the behavior of the enlisted men in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been much different.) We must come up with something like these two or three words – stones that are the foundation upon which every decision is made, every alliance is built, and to which everyone is absolutely committed. These statements also demonstrate another aspect of successful statements of culture, they are positive. An organization might want a statement like: “We oppose everything the Tea Party stands for.” It is short and to the point and provokes an immediate emotional response, but it is a very big trap.

There is one very significant problem with negative culture statements. Groups who adopt this statement cede the initiative to the group they oppose. The opposition then becomes the ones who act and those opposing them becomes the ones who react. This is what happened during the mid-term elections. Progressives reacted to the Tea Party (which is precisely what those dedicated to serving the plutocracy wanted). We went on the defensive, we tried to reason with the country and demonstrate that the Tea Party and those behind them were wrong; and we lost the House and barely held onto the Senate. Instead of defending the accomplishments of the Democrats during the past two years, we should have ignored the Tea Party and the Republicans. We should have made it very clear where we are going, of the way ahead for the country, and the prosperity we seek to create for all Americans. If we had communicated this to the country, we would be in a very different place.

If we are to follow the system, we must develop our statement. The Philosophy of Blitz expressed in the “Leftcheek deuce” blog is a great description of our cultural values. But, now comes the hardest part – finding a short, (3 to 5 words if possible) statement that expresses our values and that creates an immediate emotional impact on whosoever reads or hears it. And, unlike mission statements, it cannot appeal to all and offend no one. The definition of the other parts of the marketing plan come very easily once we have our statement.

My suggestion is that we adopt a new word for our statement of culture:

“Lifreeproditran”

Life, Freedom, Prosperity, Dignity, Transparency

Once we decide on our statement of culture, we can then move on to define the tools we will offer to convert our raw material into our product.

IMMIGRATION - CUTTING OUR OWN THROATS

The Republicans and the extremists they pander to will be able to obtain one of their most treasured goals this mid-term election if the people affected do what they want - refuse to vote or, even worse, vote Republican. The people affected are Hispanic voters who have friends and family who are undocumented and the Tea Party's goal is to sink a knife deep into any chance of Immigration Reform (especially any kind that includes any form of amnesty) for at least twelve years. The timing of the Arizona Law was no accident. These extremists wanted something that would exponentially increase the Hispanics' disappointment with the Obama Administration, while the Republican Senators make it impossible for Obama to do anything before the mid-term elections. If the Hispanic Community plays into the Republicans' plan - there will be no positive Immigration Reform for more than a decade.

I understand the desperation for positive Immigration Reform that allows the undocumented immigrants to stay in this country. It is something I want as well. I have too many friends that could be deported at any moment, I know too many children whose lives would change forever if their parents were to be deported. Because of this, I'm asking Hispanics to change their tactics to keep the best chance we have for just Immigration Reform alive.

I too am very disappointed that President Obama has yet to take up Immigration Reform, but we all must understand the reasons for the delay. Barak Obama took over the Presidency facing the greatest number of dangers to the country since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He had to stabilize the financial system of the country and work closely with the leaders of many other countries to keep the world financial systems from collapsing - all the while knowing that these actions were nothing more than band aids and that much more work had to be done and still has to be done to keep this and future crises from wrecking the finances of the world. Moreover, he had to take action and ensure that the American Automobile Industry would not collapse - something that would have led to the highest loss of jobs in American History. He also had to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court as well as see to it that his nominees to fill all of the posts in his government be approved. He had to do all of this while the Republican Party was doing its best to keep him from doing anything - in complete disregard of the damage being done to the country, its institutions, and its people. Finally, he had to initiate healthcare reform by pushing industry as far as it would go for now and to likewise pass a comprehensive banking/financial services reform bill. It is not my intention to be an apologist for the Democrats or President Obama, I am just pointing out the challenges they had to face and why Immigration Reform has yet to be put on the legislative agenda.

The fight for true Immigration Reform will be unlike any of the fights this administration has faced and this is another reason healthcare and banking reforms had to come first. Achieving the kind of reform you and I want is likely to take up most of the President's time during the last two years of what I hope is his first term, even with super-majorities in the House and Senate. If the Democratic majority is reduced or, even worse, is lost - the President will not be able to achieve reform no matter how hard he tries. It is, therefore, essential that we do all we can to register every citizen and ensure that as many minority and young voters vote and vote Democratic.

There is something else we must do to help ensure Immigration Reform - when marching and during the meetings - we must speak and chant in English, all of the flags carried must be American, the colors worn must be red, white, and blue, and all of the signs must be in English. One of the major fears of those who are against immigration reform is that they will be forced to learn Spanish. It is therefore imperative that our efforts do not underscore those fears. Making the United States a multilingual nation is something we can do at a later date.

Finally, we must adopt a simple slogan that will appeal to a basic American value and that underscores the contributions of Hispanics. I suggest we use:

Immigration Reform Because:
We're Willing to Work

The slogan appeals directly to the "protestant work ethic" and it directly refutes a prejudice held by more whites than I can believe (the lie that Latinos are lazy welfare cases). We have to make these people see just how hard Hispanics work: Holding down two full-time jobs, picking and moving 4,000 pounds of tomatoes a day for $50, standing for almost 8 hours a day in a beef packing plant, etc. The instances demonstrating that Americans refuse to do this kind of work are to many to count. Aside from this, there is a final benefit in Immigration Reform that should be forcefully expressed by our press spokespersons*.

By allowing the Hispanics who are hear to stay and work, there will not be a Social Security or a Welfare crisis. The number of legal workers contributing to the Social Security system is declining while the number of recipients of Social Security and Medicare is growing. Accepting the the undocumented workers in the country as legal residents, this Social Security crunch will be avoided. Perhaps we should modify the proposed motto to:

Immigration Reform:
Because We're Willing to Work and
You'll be Able to Retire,
Your Social Security Benefits Intact

Our best chance for real Immigration Reform is now, with this President and Democratic super-majorities in the House and Senate. We must, therefore do everything we can to ensure that all minority and young voters get out and vote and vote Democratic.

*I wish I could say that this is my idea, but it is not. I saw it on the Internet. I want to credit the originator of the idea, but I have been unable to find the original reference.

Testicles - Bibletastic.com

Testicles - Bibletastic.com

Health care once again

I have spent most of my life in the pharmaceutical industry. I was responsible for my company's most important product line everywhere in the world with the exception of the US and Canada. I have dealt with the national health care systems in 45 countries and I can say that many of them (especially in the Scandinavian countries and in France and Germany) are very superior to health care in the US (just look at life-expectancy, quality of life, and infant survival data). If we do not change the way we handle health care, we will be unable to compete with the rest of the world because more and more money will pour down the black hole hole we call the "American Health Care System" (as if there is a system).. The per capita expenditures on health care in France and Germany is half ours and we do not even have universal coverage. In addition, their systems are better than ours in almost every metric you want to examine (especially so when it comes to patient satisfaction and new born life expectancy).

If you are interested in the facts concerning the proposed health care system and not the lies and exaggerations of the tartigrade twit know-nothings, please review the following 8 points and examine the information contained in the administration's website by clicking the link at the bottom of this post:

8 ways reform provides security and stability to those with or without coverage

1. Ends Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions: Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
2. Ends Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays: Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
3. Ends Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care: Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
4. Ends Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill: Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
5. Ends Gender Discrimination: Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
6. Ends Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage: Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
7. Extends Coverage for Young Adults: Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
8. Guarantees Insurance Renewal: Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

Learn more and get details: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/