The DEA, ACC, ABA and Truth

            Here is an interesting tidbit about BPA and the American Chemistry Council (ACC).  And another and another (a Moyers report!).  There is definitely some contention involved in how BPA was introduced for public usage as well as what it’s future will be.

 

ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley

 

            If you haven’t seen this humdinger from Michele Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) yet then enjoy.  Some of the ideas that she is espousing re: reefer are required to justify the agency’s funding.

 

Head of the DEA Michele Leonhart

 

            Check out minute 18 of this clip from the British documentary “The Men Who Made Us Fat”, with Susan Neely, President of the American Beverage Association (ABA).  When asked about the positive correlation between soda consumption and weight gain she says:

Well there’s, uhhh, the evidence, ehhh, says that obesity is caused by people consuming too many calories and not getting enough exercise to balance it up.  Certainly our full-calorie soft drinks – our regular soft drinks – are a source of calories.  I guess if you are consuming too many calories and watching too much television and not getting enough exercise then you’re going to have a problem.

 

Bizarrely enough – bizarre cuz I buy it – she also says the industry is helping to make the US healthier.

 

President of the ABA, Susan Neely
 

 

            To consider:

            All these groups are trying to protect their interests – but are their interests something that benefits all?

            Your judgment call on these issues depends on your background. 

            Does everyone have all the facts?  Definitely not.  Individuals that comprise the public do not.  As was demonstrated in the above links about BPA, the industry itself did have the facts and were the ones writing guidelines for the FDA to use.

            Should you be operating with all the facts at hand?  Yes.  For sure.  Why would you say, “I am ignorant of the facts but I still have my opinions and I am ready to make decisions”.

            The kicker is that facts are malleable – there are different pools of facts that can be drawn on for different purposes.

            The ACC, the DEA, and the ABA all are protecting the livelihoods of their members.  If adequate research on the effects of chemicals on human health were actually conducted and made know to the population at large, chemical manufacturers would see more regulation and less profit.  If there was a referendum on basing the actions of government agencies on what the majority of Americans state they believe then the DEA would have to shift its focus away from marijuana, perhaps losing funding.  As far as the ABA is concerned, dammit I want to say that individuals should be responsible enough on their own not to over-consume soda pop – if they should even consume it at all.  However, popular perception on the whole does not vilify soda pop and the ABA of course does its job and seeks to control that popular perception.

            The theory of relativity says measurements of space and time can alter depending on where the observer is.  Not to jump wholeheartedly into the moral relativist camp (perhaps just to share a campfire with them for a night) I think that truth can be altered depending on the observer’s relation to particularly strong forces: corporate interests and gov’t agencies.

Thoughts on NOVA, David Koch and climate science

             Recently watched an older Nova about research being carried out in Antarctica.  Global warming/climate change is at the forefront of this episode – but also more in the background.  Okay, let me explain why: researchers on the south continent dig out climate data that is old, like getting into geological time, i.e., tens or hundreds of millions of years ago.  Fossilized moss is found and was shown to be preserved due to rapid climate change.  So in one regard the show looked at ancient climate that could happen again.  Since human-caused CO2 was not the culprit of so ancient a change there is a decoupling of our actions today from what is going on climatically today.

 

Sweet ancient moss!

 

            Is this an underhanded tactic from Koch-funded Nova?  I mean, not to come to any steadfast conclusions about climate change, you know, let’s let science keep reasoning this out – heck, that is what more explicit Koch-funded propaganda has succeeded in accomplishing.  Sleight-of-hand delay tactics that get results.  Tactics that let folks conclude that current climate change is not actually being caused by people.  I’m all for the possibility of some black swan being the cause of climate change but also I am compelled by the overwhelming scientific consensus re: this issue.



David Koch - cancer survivor

            I’ve already discussed one man’s take on the climate issue – even if nothing is done and things get worse we will still carry on.  In the conspiracy circles I am familiar with there is a perception that climate change is just a gimmick to manipulate folks in various ways.  I accept that as an individual – if things are as dire as they appear to be and the interests sanctioning these changes are as intractable as they seem – I can’t do much.  I also accept that things won’t change even if I flip out and become a consummate activist and radically curtail my way of life. 
 

Victim of Koch-caused cancer

             Still, it is interesting to be aware of things and understand motives.  Of the scientists on the Nova Antarctica show I would guess most accept the reality of human-caused climate change.  Appearing on a show funded by David Koch is strange, though.  Scientists are providing information for people, only at this point they seem to just be making refinements.  Guess making a career out of refining knowledge – just for knowledge’s own sake – is at least interesting.  As I’ve stated for myself, just because you know it is going on – or if you are providing the data letting us know it is going on – doesn’t mean you actually have do anything to stop it.



Carpenter's They Live and the US today

 

            Carpenter’s They Live is one of my favorites, definitely top five.  Why does it resonate so with me?  It presents a world where secret, alien forces control mankind – to the alien’s benefit and mankind’s detriment.  Throw in Roddy Piper as protagonist engaging in five-minute fights and issuing declarations re: running out of bubblegum and you have stellar cinema.

“I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum”

 

            So today, or in the Reaganite eighties that the film capped off, it is easy to image our leaders – political and from industry – being in disguise, a powerful skyscraper-top energy beam cloaking their appearance/befuddling the minds of men. 

            Now, let’s say that in our realm (i.e. non-Carpenter-scripted) there is no alien based collusion with America’s leaders.  And no leaders are really reptilians in disguise.  No, we just have naked greed for money and power operating in the world, the world of humans and human nature.  A bullet stops the mind-control machine in Carpenter’s world – what shuts off the beam in ours?

The world revealed for what it is.

            It is nice to imagine there is some beam, something out there commanding us to OBEY, WATCH TV, and CONFORM that could be shut down, revealing the world in a way to truly spark outrage and dissent.  Of course one man’s conformity is another man’s peace – who is critical of what in what way and does that necessitate action?

            Remember the Great Recession a few years ago?  With the banks and the loss of investments and the loss of real estate values and all that?  The dissent that was spurred by those times has passed, at least popularly.           

Bulldozer and cops move in on the They Live shantytown.
 

They Live riot police!

 

Police TSD@ Occupy shantytown.
 

Occupy police line.

            Bless his heart, former-Gov. Jesse Ventura has offered his explanation for why folks are not more outraged and thusly act on that outrage.  Part of the appeal of They Live is that there is a concrete solution: at least when Piper’s character John Nada caps the control broadcast-beam the aliens are revealed in all their scariness.  From there you can only imagine the reaction of the folks within the film – revolt, revolution, the OBEY and CONFORM signs written on everything revealed.  It seems like the actions of Wall Street that caused the Great Recession would have served a similar galvanizing purpose.