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in October
From Common Courage Press
Today's
Stories
Ron Jacobs
The
Darkening Tunnel
Recent
Stories
August 21, 2003
Robert Fisk
The US
Needs to Blame Anyone But Locals for UN Bombing
Virginia Tilley
The Quisling Policies of the UN in Iraq: Toward a Permanent War?
Rep. Henry Waxman
Bush Owes the Public Some Serious Answers on Iraq
Ben Terrall
War Crimes and Punishment in Indonesia: Rapes, Murders and Slaps
on the Wrists
Elaine Cassel
Brother John Ashcroft's Traveling Patriot Salvation Show
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Gouged by Banks
Marjorie Cohn
Sergio Vieira de Mello: Victim of Terrorism or US Policy in Iraq?
Vicente Navarro
Media
Double Standards: The Case of Mr. Aznar, Friend of Bush
Website of the Day
The Intelligence Squad
August 20, 2003
Robert Fisk
Now No
One Is Safe in Iraq
Caoimhe Butterly
Life and Death on the Frontlines of Baghdad
Kurt Nimmo
UN Bombing: Act of Terrorism or Guerrilla War?
Michael Egan
Revisiting the Paranoid Style in the Dark
Ramzi Kysia
Peace
is not an Abstract Idea
Steven Higgs
NPR and the NAFTA Highway
John L. Hess
A Downside Day
Edward Said
The Imperial Bluster of Tom Delay
Jason Leopold
Gridlock at Path 15: the California Blackouts were the "Wake
Up Call"
Website of the Day
Ashcroft's Patriotic Hype
August 19, 2003
Jeffrey St. Clair
Blackouts Happen
Gary Leupp
"Our Patch": Australia v. the Evil Doers of the South
Pacific
Sean Donahue
Uribe's Cruel Model: Colombia Moves Toward Totalitarianism
Matt Martin
Bush's Credibility Problem on Missile Defense
Juliana Fredman
Recipe for the Destruction of a Hudna
John Ross
Fox Government's Attack on Mexican Basques
Sasan Fayazmanesh
What Kermit Roosevelt Didn't Say
Website of the Day
Tom Delay's Dual Loyalities
August 18, 2003
Uri Avnery
Hero in War and Peace
Stan Goff
The Volunteer Military and the Wicked Adventure
Cathy Breen
Baghdad on the Hudson
Michael Kimaid
Fight the Power (Companies)!
Jason Leopold
The California Rip-Off Revisited: Arnold, Milken and Ken Lay
Matt Siegfried
The Bush Administration in Context
Elaine Cassel
At Last, A Judge Who Acts Like a Judge
Alexander Cockburn
Judy Miller's War
Harvey Wasserman
The Legacy of Blackout Pete Wilson
Website of the Day
Fire Griles!
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher Gilad Atzmon! BBC Names EXILE Top Jazz CD
August 16 / 17, 2003
Flavia Alaya
Bastille
New Jersey
Jeffrey St. Clair
War Pimps
Saul Landau
The Legacy of Moncada: the Cuban Revolution at 50
Brian Cloughley
What Has Happened to the US Army in Iraq?
William S. Lind
Coffins for the Crews: How Not to Use Light Armored Vehicles
Col. Dan Smith
Time for Straight Talk
Wenonah Hauter
Which
Electric System Do We Want?
David Lindorff
Where's Arnold When We Need Him?
Harvey Wasserman
This Grid Should Not Exist
Don Moniak
"Unusual Events" at Nuclear Power Plants: a Timeline
for August 14, 2003
David Vest
Rolling Blackout Revue
Merlin Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Sherman Austin
Adam Engel
The Loneliest Number
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Book of the Weekend
Powerplay by Sharon Beder
August 14, 2003
Peter Phillips
Inside
Bohemian Grove: Where US Power Elites Party
Brian Cloughley
Charlie Wilson and Pakistan: the Strange Congressman Behind the
CIA's Most Expensive War
Linville and Ruder
Tyson
Strike Draws the Line
Jim Lobe
Bush Administration Divided Over Iran
Ramzy Baroud
Sharon Freezes the Road Map
Tom Turnipseed
Blowback in Iraq
Gary Leupp
Condi's
Speech: From Birgmingham to Baghdad, Imperialism's Freedom Ride
Website of the Day
Tony Benn's Greatest Hits
August 13, 2003
Joanne Mariner
A Wall of Separation Through the
Heart
Donald Worster
The Heavy Cost of Empire
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Elaine Cassel
Murderous Errors: Executing the Innocent
Ralph Nader
Make the Recall Count
Alexander Cockburn
Ted Honderich Hit with "Anti-Semitism" Slur
Website of the Day
Defending Yourself Against DirectTV Lawsuits: 9000 and Counting
August 12, 2003
Ron Jacobs
Revisionist History: the Bush Administration, Civil Rights and
Iraq
Josh Frank
Dean's Constitutional Hang-Up
Wayne Madsen
What's a Fifth Columnist? Well, Someone Like Hitchens
Ray McGovern
Relax,
It Was All a Pack of Lies
Wendy Brinker
Hubris in the White House
Website of the Day
Black
Mustache
Hot Stories
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
William Blum
Myth
and Denial in the War on Terrorism
Standard Schaefer
Experimental Casinos: DARPA and the War Economy
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click Here
for More Stories.
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August
23, 2003
Unholy Trinity
Anti-Abortion
Attack on Health and Free Speech
By STANDARD SCHAEFER
Anyone still unconvinced about the power of the
religious right in this country need look no further than this:
a combined an attack on free speech, the woman's right to choose,
and affordable healthcare.
On July 8, 2003 the Washington Times
ran an opinion piece by Rev. Jerry Falwell in which he attacked
the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act, a recently proposed piece
of legislation that would allow US citizens to import cheaper
pharmaceuticals from abroad.
Eight days later, according to a vitamin
buyers club called Life Extension Foundation, their headquarters
were visited by the FDA. An intrusive and disruptive multi-day
inspection ensued. At the close of inspection, the FDA demanded
that the organization cease to make certain health claims in
their literature. Licensed medical doctors working for the organization
were also told they could no longer make "unapproved statements."
Among the controversial statements cited was that folic acid
lowers homocysteine levels.
There are often contradictory studies
in relation to vitamin supplements, some of which are the result
of drug companies that deliberately set out to discredit vitamin
cures that cannot be patented.
In this case, the FDA's orders do not
seem to take into account that Life Extensions publishes
peer-reviewed scientific papers and abstracts, provides documentation
to their claims and makes medical doctors to available to its
costumers who have specific questions.
Nor does the FDA's order take into account
the fact that in vitamin marketing cases federal judges have
been favoring the use of disclaimers on alternative instead of
outright censorship. Some of language under attack seems not
to simply censor claims, but to limit needlessly the names of
products. Life Extension Foundation has already complied with
the FDA in removing the word "pain" from the label
of its formerly named Natural Pain Relief formula, despite the
fact that the product already has a disclaimer.
Falwell's argument in the Washington
Times was largely limited to linking the idea of importing
cheaper drugs to the possibility that someone might import abortion
drugs like RU-486. He provided no statistical evidence to make
the point, but merely appealed to the usual scare tactics: "Would
drug importation make non-FDA approved drugs legal, or put prescription
drugs in the hands of those without prescriptions? No. Would
it make them easier for those who crave deadly drugs to get them?
Unquestionably."
He attacked the Life Extension Foundation
as "rabidly anti-life" because it once published a
summary of research in which health benefits, and not the anti-pregnancy
qualities of RU-486 were described. He also attacked their support
of embryonic stem-cell research.
LEF's products are all legal and limited
to vitamins, herbal supplements, and a few products believed
to enhance hormone levels. In the past, the FDA has raided such
distributors only to be forced by federal judges to release the
products.
Life Extension Foundation has prepared
a vigorous legal defense and has alleged libel.
Falwell also attacks Katharine Greider,
author of a recent exposé on the pharmaceutical industry.
In her THE BIG FIX, she describes the pharmaceutical industry's
more than cozy relationship with the FDA, and drug companies'
exploitative pricing tactics. Falwell does not dispute Greider's
THE BIG FIX on factual grounds. Instead, he attacks her personally
because she correctly and calmly reports that current anti-choice
regulations increase the risks of health problems in women by
delaying their access to abortion. As result, many women are
unable to receive abortions until the seventh month of pregnancy.
Jo Ann Emerson and Gil Gutknecht of the
US House Representatives responded with a letter pointing out
that over the next ten years, seniors are expected to save $630
billion on drugs as a result of this bill. They cite a study
by the Kaiser Foundation that showed 29% of seniors let prescriptions
go unfilled because they could not afford them. They also pointed
that a former representative and physician, Dr. Tom Coburn, has
supported the bill despite being an avid pro-life advocate.
The bill is simply an attempt to regulate
the flow of approved prescription drugs that already cross the
border every day and is a modest attempt to control some of effects
of rising medical costs.
Some economists have characterized the
trend toward privatizing medical care as leading to lower incomes
for doctors, many of whom have warned away some of the best students
from becoming physicians. Instead, many of the best medical
minds are going into pharmaceutical industry.
Rabid market fundamentalists have undermined
efforts to establish affordable healthcare through deregulation
efforts. Pharmaceutical companies often champion regulation,
particularly when it serves their purposes of extending patents
and zealously defending intellectual property rights.
Ironically, there is a pro-life issue
here, one the religious right has not found time to confront.
An estimated 18,000 Americans every year die due to a lack of
affordable health insurance coverage.
On July 25, the House passed the Pharmaceutical
Market Access Act of 2003 (H.R.2427) by a margin of 243 to 186.
It now faces a battle in the Senate where pharmaceutical lobbies
have even more influence.
During the last election, the pharmaceutical
industry contributed more than $20 million in political contributions
in the past election. The Center for Responsive Politics estimates
that $8 out of every $10 went to Republicans.
Standard Schaefer is a journalist in Pasadena, CA. He can be
reached at ssschaefer@earthlink.net
Weekend
Edition Features for August 16 / 17, 2003
Flavia Alaya
Bastille
New Jersey
Jeffrey St. Clair
War Pimps
Saul Landau
The Legacy of Moncada: the Cuban Revolution at 50
Brian Cloughley
What Has Happened to the US Army in Iraq?
William S. Lind
Coffins for the Crews: How Not to Use Light Armored Vehicles
Col. Dan Smith
Time for Straight Talk
Wenonah Hauter
Which
Electric System Do We Want?
David Lindorff
Where's Arnold When We Need Him?
Harvey Wasserman
This Grid Should Not Exist
Don Moniak
"Unusual Events" at Nuclear Power Plants: a Timeline
for August 14, 2003
David Vest
Rolling Blackout Revue
Merlin Chowkwanyun
An Interview with Sherman Austin
Adam Engel
The Loneliest Number
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Hamod & Albert
Book of the Weekend
Powerplay by Sharon Beder
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