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May 31, 2006
05.31.06 Nonprofits and Drug Firms; Japan's Swing to the Right; The Omnivore's Dilemma
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May 31, 2006 Edition |
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THiS WEEK: What happens when nonprofits feed at Big Pharma's trough; the evolution of, well, evolution; tens of thousands of US-ordered guns "go missing" in Iraq; a look at Japan's swing to the right; Mr. Caring Capitalist has a few words with Jimmy Environmentalist; Michael Pollan discusses the omnivore's dilemma; in the wake of the recent Enron convictions, an excerpt from the documentary Enron—The Smartest Guys in the Room; ADHD drugs send thousands of children and adults to the emergency room; and an assortment of hilarious cartoons and witty satire scattered liberally throughout this week's Media Picks.
This Week's Picks:
- Donations Tie Drug Firms and Nonprofits
The American Diabetes Association, a leading patient health group, privately enlisted an Eli Lilly & Co. executive to chart its growth strategy and write its slogan. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, an outspoken patient advocate, lobbies for treatment programs that also benefit its drug-company donors. And the National Gaucher Foundation, a supporter of people suffering from a horrific rare disease, gets nearly all its revenue from one drugmaker, Genzyme Corp. What's wrong with this picture?Thomas Ginsberg | Philadelphia Inquirer
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/health/14687073.htm - Tens of Thousands of US-Ordered Guns "Go Missing" in Iraq
The Pentagon has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms from Bosnia to Iraq in the past two years, using a web of private companies, at least one of which is a noted arms smuggler blacklisted by Washington and the UN. According to a report by Amnesty International, which investigated the sales, the US government arranged for the delivery of at least 200,000 Kalashnikov machine guns from Bosnia to Iraq in 2004-05. But though the weaponry was said to be for arming the fledgling Iraqi military, there is no evidence of the guns reaching their recipient.Ian Traynor | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,,1773106,00.html - CARTOON | Nothing to Worry About
How To Be Happy | Shannon Wheeler
http://www.tmcm.com/comics/tmcm060522.gif - Many Native Americans Still Hold Traditional Beliefs About White Man
"Most Native Americans view 'the white man' as a deceitful, avaricious, exploitive mass murderer, just as their ancestors did," BIA Interim Assistant Secretary James Cason said. - Evolving Evolution
Despite much recent controversy about the theory of evolution, major changes in our understanding of evolution over the past twenty years have gone virtually unnoticed. A look at some recent books that push a deeper understanding of how plants and animals evolve.Edward Ziff and Israel Rosenfield | NY Review of Books
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18970 - Japan's Lurch to the Right
When George Bush travels abroad, few countries are genuinely pleased to welcome him. Japan, however, is a notable exception, not least because many of its political leaders and citizens share his right-wing reactionary tendencies.Eric Johnston | Adbusters
http://adbusters.org/the_magazine/65/Japans_Lurch_to_the_Right.html - The Next Green Revolution
It's about time you woke up to the good news, Jimmy! If we can just unleash the forces of innovation, like the creativity that made Silicon Valley the hub of the Information Revolution, we can lick the environmental crisis once and for all!Michael Steinberg | Monthy Review
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/steinberg240506.html - The Omnivore's Dilemma
Michael Pollan, the author of 'The Omnivore's Dilemma,' on America's eating disorder, how much petroleum is in our diet, and why Whole Foods is less whole than we think.Krista Walton | L.A. City Beat
http://lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3795&IssueNum=155 - AUDIO/VIDEO | The Smartest Guys in the Room
We bring you an excerpt from the documentary "Enron—The Smartest Guys in the Room." It is based on the book of the same name by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. In this excerpt, Enron founder Kenneth Lay talks about the state of Enron to a roomful of employees. The date was October 22, 2001—a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter to Enron asking for information on the company’s third-quarter losses.Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/05/26/1411202 - CARTOON | NSA Monitoring US Citizens' Prayers
Though the White House claims it is only interested in those communicating with non-US affiliated gods, a new USA Today report suggests that the administration is secretly building an enormous database of all domestic communications with god (and in several alarming cases, Santa Claus).Don Asmussen | Bad Reporter
http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/pictures/2006/05/26/052606-950x315-badreporter.gif - ADHD Drugs Send Thousands to ERs
Accidental overdoses and side effects from attention deficit drugs likely send thousands of children and adults to emergency rooms, according to the first national estimates of the problem.Linda A. Johnson | Associated Press / The Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060524.wadhd0524/BNStory/specialScienceandHealth/home - Yellow Journalism on Iran
A story authored by a prominent US neo-conservative regarding new legislation in Iran allegedly requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive colored badges circulated around the world last weekend before it was exposed as extremely dubious. The article by a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-American Amir Taheri, was initially published in last Friday's edition of Canada's National Post, which ran alongside the story (of) a 1935 photograph of a Jewish businessman in Berlin with a yellow six-pointed star sewn on his overcoat, as required by Nazi legislation at the time. The Post subsequently noted denials of the story.Jim Lobe | Inter Press Service / Mostly Water
http://mostlywater.org/node/6364
- Media Picks Contributing Editors: Adam Barker, Justin Park
- Media Picks compiled and edited by Erin
Wiegand and Brian Awehali
Posted by erin at May 31, 2006 01:57 PM