The More Things Change . . . , 2

Remember how Candidate Obama was going to end the war in the Middle East? How he promised to start withdrawing troops immediately upon assuming office? How he was going to stop the unconstitutional arrest and detainment of suspected terrorists without benefit of counsel or trial?

Perhaps our presidents all come from the Bizarro world, where everything is opposite. Or . . . perhaps presidents from both parties take their agenda from the same ruling elite.

In any case, here is a refreshingly honest assessment of President Obama's speech on "Indefinite Detainment" as presented on MSNBC:

Thanks to RPC for sending me the link to this report.

The More Things Change . . .

The more things change, the more they stay the same. According to a commonly accepted urban legend, the Republicans are the party of big business and the Democrats are the party of the common man.

These observations made by Gary North in a recent issue of Reality Check demonstrate that both parties cater to the ruling elite.

Obama's free ride here is going to continue. The well-organized corporate interests that supply each President with his advisors want the taxpayer-funded subsidies. Goldman Sachs provided Clinton's Secretary of the Treasury (Rubin) and Bush's (Paulson). Kissinger & Associates gave Timothy Geithner his first job. He rose to become the second most powerful official in central banking: president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Nobody notices. Nobody complains. I mean nobody significant.

Swine Flu & Big Pharma

The news programs have crackled with the news a "possible pandemic" of swine flu. Don't worry, though, the gov't will make Tamiflu available to treat those infected. At a profit to the drug industry , of course.

The kicker is that the virus appears to have been engineered in a lab. The big question is whether it was a gov't facility or a pharmaceutical one. Oops, I forgot that most pharmaceutical developments are partnerships between big gov't and big pharma.

Oh well, in the mean time, here is some good information & advice from Health Sciences Institute:

Don't Panic: 7 FACTS About 'Swine Flu'

With all the sensationalized news about the so-called swine flu flying around, I figured we'd better set all the facts straight.

1. So far, only 82 cases of so-called swine flu have been definitively identified worldwide, mostly in Mexico (26 confirmed, 7 deaths) and the U.S.(with 40 confirmed, no deaths). (Though about 1600 suspected cases, including 159 deaths, are reported in Mexico.) That does not add up to a pandemic swine flu outbreak.
2. This virus has nothing to do with swine. In fact, it hasn't been seen in a single animal. And you can't possibly get it from eating pork.
3. No existing vaccines can prevent this new flu strain. So no matter what you hear – even if it comes from your doctor – don't get a regular flu shot. They rarely work against seasonal flu…and certainly can't offer protection from a never-before- seen strain.
4. Speaking of this strain, it doesn't seem to have come on naturally. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this particular strain has never before been seen in pigs or people. And according to Reuters, the strain is a 'genetic mix' of swine, avian and human flu. Was it created in a lab? We don't know yet.
5. The drug companies are getting excited…and that's never a good thing. According to the Associated Press at least one financial analyst estimates up to $388 million worth of Tamiflu sales in the near future – and that's without a pandemic outbreak.
6. Let's not forget that Tamiflu comes with its own problems, including side effects like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, dizziness, fatigue, cough…the very symptoms you're trying to avoid. And let's not forget that Japan banned this drug for children back in 2007, after links to suicidal behavior.
7. Vaccines for this flu strain probably won't have to jump through all those annoying hurdles like clinical trials for safety and effectiveness. That won't, however, stop the government from mandating the vaccine for all of us – a very likely scenario. And if the vaccines are actually harmful…killing people, for example…the vaccine makers will be immune from lawsuits.

Your best defense – your only real defense in any flu season – is a bulletproof immune system. You can learn about the best ways to strengthen yourself in the HSI archives.

--Michele

How the Executive Branch Functions

Below you will find an excerpt from an essay by Gary North that appeared in a recent edition of Reality Check. Dr. North's succinct and graphic style boils the power politics behind the President's Cabinet down to a few paragraphs.

A President's cabinet is mostly for show. A few of the senior positions are about representing the Powers That Be, meaning the Establishment.

The Secretary of the Treasury is the seat for the big banks and financial institutions. These days, this is the Goldman Sachs slot.

The Secretary of State is the seat for one of the factions in [the] Council on Foreign Relations. Today's position is filled by a rival politician whose husband was vetted by the CFR in 1992. The main person who promoted him in early 1992 was the legendary Washington party-giver, Pamela Harriman, the former wife -- among many others -- of the late Averill Harriman (d. 1986), one of the six "Wise Men" in modern American foreign policy. She had even
been the daughter-in-law of Winston Churchill for a while.

The Attorney General is vetted by the lawyer's guild. He may be a politician-lawyer, who receives a reward for faithful partisan political service, or he may be a faithful lap dog
during the first term of a President's Administration.

The other positions are more openly payoffs to special- interest voting blocs. Think of the Secretary of Commerce or the Secretary of Labor. Big business vets the first; labor union
leaders screen the second. Guess who vets the Secretary of Agriculture? What about the Secretary of Education? And, lest we forget, what about the Secretary of Defense? You get the
idea.

Most of these people are selected for show. They convey the impression to voters that each group is represented in the Administration. Each group is represented, meaning each group's
full-time organizational agents is represented. This representation has to do with voting blocs every four years. Neither political party alienates any of these agents completely.
It is a matter of shifting departmental budgets at the margin.

Each administers a gigantic bureaucracy that is protected by Civil Service. These subordinates cannot legally be fired. They survive every Administration. They keep the system running according to whatever makes life easier for bureaucrats.

A department Secretary can change almost nothing. He acts as a spokesman -- one might say "shill" -- for the bureaucrats who are officially under him, but who are operationally over him
because they control the flow of information to him. His main task is to make sure the department's budget grows each fiscal year. The President wants this, and so do the bureaucrats. So do the special-interest groups whose interests are represented by
the department.

Each Secretary goes out on the rubber chicken circuit lecture to give carefully vetted speeches to local and regional conferences held by the special-interest group. He or she is
supposed to keep the special-interest group in line behind whatever the Administration is doing to expand the power of the special-interest group over the American people. This means
getting its fair share -- plus a little more -- of Federal budget. Like the children of Lake Wobegone, each department is expected to do better than average, budget-wise.