Laura Flanders, the progressive journalist, now has a television show (Grit TV) comparable to her old radio show that I regularly listened to online (via Your Call radio). It is available on Dish Network through Free Speech TV, also a source for Amy Goodman's Democracy Now! program (she comes off a bit too strong and the voices on the show are fairly predictable, but it's an important resource), a weekly show addressing gay issues (Gay TV) and other useful programming. For those who think alternative voices are available, especially media talking heads, Flander's media segment might help. And, I like her offering a forum for amateurs to send videos showing their activism in practice. The show, like DN and others, is repeated several times over the week.
I don't really get my news on t.v. these days, though once upon a time was a fan of 20/20 and David Brinkley on Sunday mornings (the old pro balanced people like Sam Donaldson and George Will, who have great blowhard potential). Nonetheless, I do from time to time watch Flanders and others, especially over the weekend. For instance, Bill Moyers comes on not only Friday nights at 9 (EST), but also Sunday nights at 7. These are lulls, and it is quite easy after dinner or even a football game (can catch the last half, at least, in most cases) to watch the show. Or, some of it. In fact, the last book I read was a direct result of an interview on his show, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs by Melody Peterson.
The book has a neat cover photo of a bowl of pills, a sort of breakfast cereal deal (some milky white liquid medicine could be added, perhaps?), a potentially lethal (so says the book) type of fruit loops. And, with the help of money (bribing disk jockeys, problem; bribing doctors? voluntary ethics concern) and a great sales job, they are pushing physicians to be their enablers. A bit from the Moyers' interview with that author:
Petersen reports that almost 65 percent of the nation now takes a drug available only by prescription. Aggressive marketing has turned what were once normal life events into maladies that can be treated with a pill. With our consumer-driven culture, she says, America was ripe to become "a perfect medicine market," where the power of marketing can take an obscure niche drug and turn it into a best seller.
The main theme of the book is the way industry promotes drugs, basically as if it just one more thing we can overconsume (an actual need not necessary) without really any danger being involved. This includes rabid advertising (definitely taken to a new level even in recent memory and largely unregulated vis-a-vis other countries), off label uses, "me too" drugs that are of very little value (and often not worth the cost, in money and health problems), and Bush-like secrecy of just what is going on. In fact, the administration's use of faux news programming (and press fed stories) pops up here too, including industry funded and even ghostwritten articles and research. And, the cost is particularly important because of its affect on health care overall.*
On a separate topic, Moyers had a pair of conservatives on last night, who are part of the effort to save the brand. [As an aside, since the transcript is online, one need not watch each program; some video clips are lost in the process.] I couldn't take them totally seriously for a few reasons. First, the older one is concerned with separation of powers, and how the current batch of Republicans are ignoring it. But, it is not like Nixon and Reagan was so grand in that department. Cheney surely wasn't. Next, the younger one focused on federalism. States being controlled by fundamentalist sorts and the like really doesn't impress me. And, small government? Conservatives aren't libertarians.
If the conservatives want to get some respect, one thing they could have did was vote against the FISA amendment bill. Reckless power give aways to reckless executives is not "conservative," is it? Bob Barr doesn't think so. They would SUPPORT subpoenas of the like of Miers, Bolten and Rove. Robbing the legislative branch of the power to investigate credible (to be overly conservative) problems in the executive branch -- you need not agree btw with the critics when you support the power to ask questions and investigate -- is not "conservative," is it? Heck, even Jesse Helms was protective of congressional power in that respect. And, overall, strongly oppose corruption and incompetence in government.
Where is such things among Republicans in Congress, even a dissident factor? They are like lemmings over there, even among safe seat back-benchers. The fact they are not 100% reprobates aside, as a whole, they act in lockstep. This is not to say that the conservative movement lacks honest voices of dissent, including those who people like me would disagree with much of the time. But, until their alleged representatives in Congress show some spine and principle on a steady basis -- and like a baseball team that loses big and finally rebuilds, the elections might help here -- voices of reform will sound a bit lame.
This includes those that want us to believe "conservatives" were consistently so much better in the past than they are now.
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* From the NYT review, we learn some of her recommendations:
Look at the pens and tissue boxes in your doctor’s office. If they feature drug ads, then a drug company representative has been courting your doctor, trying to influence the ways in which that doctor issues prescriptions. Don’t trust paid celebrity drug endorsements. Be aware that your symptoms may be caused not by illness but by medication, especially when more than one medication is involved. Ms. Petersen urges more study of these interactions, particularly on the part of police officers who can assess drunk drivers but not overmedicated ones.
“Our Daily Meds” also advocates more supervision of doctors' research articles, many of which are ghostwritten by drug company spokesmen. It calls for drug watchdog agencies that are not overseen by the government, since government officials can so easily be lobbied. Most drastically, she advocates prison time for executives implicated in pharmaceutical crimes
Ultimately, she suggests it is up to us, the consumers. And, too often, victims. Educate yourself, don't buy the hype, and be careful. Don't be a victim of irony.