Doping Exemptions?

Athletes may secure a TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) which when properly filed, allows use of banned performance-enhancing substances on medical grounds.

Key question: should medical exemptions allowing drug use be kept secret? Is it fair allowing chronically ill or disabled elite athletes to compete in world-class events (such as the Olympics) when taking banned drugs that others can't use? Perhaps the place for such impaired competitors is the Paralympics ...?

Allowances become complicated by the fact that cases are considered by Medical Advisory Committees within each nation. NATION-level allowances & standards may actually differ practically.

Another problem is that even elite athletes may file a TUE request retroactively, after they've been tested for doping.

Combining these complexities (and potential for corruption) with confidentiality, the secret process allowing drug use does not inspire trust or assure fairness...

Voting: The Slave's Suggestion Box

Triclosan: the New Lead Poisoning

Triclosan is a potent chemical now found in the bodies of most people in the USA. Since the 1980s it's become an ingredient in toothpastes, pesticides, shampoos, etc., for supposed antibacterial mechanisms.

Now the US Food & Drug Administration has banned soap products using triclosan & 18 other antibacterial additives -- the chemicals are ineffective as typically used. Worse, they may cause substantial injury and much environmental damage. Warnings have been circulating for years; the FDA's belated final ruling allows one more transition year to 6 Sept. 2017...

Here's an excerpt of one report(link): 
"The FDA has sided with scientists who claim that the use of antibiotic components on a consistent and widespread basis may actually be contributing to the rise of new antibiotic-resistant strains of various infections... exposure to such elements may also play havoc with hormones, especially those of young people. In fact, the Natural Resources Defense Council maintains that one of the most popular antibiotic chemicals, TRICLOSAN, can affect both testosterone and estrogen production, and can affect the thyroid. The NRDC argues that infants and children, in particular, are especially susceptible, and that it can lead to permanent damage. The scale of the usage is also daunting. One study suggested that triclosan could be detected in approximately 75 percent of people living in the United States. Its prevalence is perhaps only matched by its tenacity: the chemical passes through our systems and into the environment, where it enters the ground water and passes into animals and back into us."

We're guinea pigs. Big Business simply moves on, as with lead poisoning from our petrol & housepaint in past decades, and the terrible impact of cigarettes & asbestos.  Industry sucks away profits, then when all goes bad the limited-liability corporation runs away or begs public assistance -- the 2008 bailouts were one example, the TEPCO nuclear tragedy at Fukushima and Japan's "off-limits zone" pollution another. Do you trust Big Business & their paid politicos got your back? They'll not protect you. Why Dream yourself to Death?

Triclosan: the New Lead Poisoning

Triclosan is a potent chemical now found in the bodies of most people in the USA. Since the 1980s it's become an ingredient in toothpastes, pesticides, shampoos, etc., for supposed antibacterial mechanisms.

Now the US Food & Drug Administration has banned soap products using triclosan & 18 other antibacterial additives -- the chemicals are ineffective as typically used. Worse, they may cause substantial injury and much environmental damage. (Warnings have been circulating for years; the FDA final ruling is late, and allows one more year of transition until 6 Sept. 2017). 

Here's an excerpt of one report(link): 
"The FDA has sided with scientists who claim that the use of antibiotic components on a consistent and widespread basis may actually be contributing to the rise of new antibiotic-resistant strains of various infections.But those concerns only scratch the surface of worries associated with antibiotic cleansers. Some studies have indicated that exposure to such elements may also play havoc with hormones, especially those of young people. In fact, the Natural Resources Defense Council maintains that one of the most popular antibiotic chemicals, triclosan, can affect both testosterone and estrogen production, and can affect the thyroid. The NRDC argues that infants and children, in particular, are especially susceptible to this chemical, and that it can lead to permanent damage. The scale of the usage is also daunting. One study suggested that triclosan could be detected in approximately 75 percent of people living in the United States. In fact, its prevalence is perhaps only matched by its tenacity: the chemical passes through our systems and into the environment, where it enters the ground water and passes into animals and back into us."

We're guinea pigs, and as with lead poisoning from our paint and petrol in past decades, and the terrible impact of cigarettes, big business simply moves on.  Industry does what it can for profits, then when things go bad they run away or beg public assistance -- the 2008 bailouts were one example, the TEPCO nuclear tragedy at Fukushima and Japan's dead "off-limits zone" pollution is another. Trust Big Business & their paid politicos got your back? They'll protect you? Why Dream yourself to Death?

Rotten Apple

Yes, BAD Apple.

Apple has been criticized for monitoring customer location with hidden software processes (see links here & here). Now we know governments also routinely monitor millions of mobile phones through cell tower access and cell emulators, sometimes with intimate industrial involvement (link). How regularly is Apple® technology harnessed for repression, or used by the secret security services to protect us? This giant business skirts the issue; robust user privacy remains elusive.

Apple (the sweet megacorporation) is also elusive. Founded in 1976, they're a "squat brand" -- taking a common dictionary word from our general history, hijacking & trademarking a shortcut regular word -- telling us, in essence "Fuck you - now move around me!"

Pretty baubles of Apple technology are sold around the world. They're a big employer. Of course as part of society, Apple must operate legally. The Irish Apple has been in the news recently: where the megacorporation has a small relatively clean footprint. But huge worldwide profits reportedly siphon to Ireland, where Apple® somehow pays very little tax.

They kidnap / steal their name from the commons, and worm their way from contributing fair tax payments. We peons pay the funding Apple somehow avoids. Golden apple? One bad apple spoils ALL.


ROTTEN  APPLE®

Makaꞌala Hawaiians

Native Hawaiian people have been marginalized in their own nation since 1893 -- backed by the U.S. military, intruders stole Hawaiian lands and systematically forced local people to believe our lāhui is dead.

Peaceful coexistence is achievable; but violence and war are also possible. Forces repressing Hawaiians grow more strident & incautious. They've drunk their own Hawaiian Punch, and believe Hawaiian disagreements and our wonderful sense of "chill" & shaka typify a disorganized, passive and disinterested people.

Now we've new tools for peaceful organization, and new abilities to identify dangerous parasites.

Building Native Hawaiian self-government is a tough process: most of us openly operate in occupied territory, maintaining our globally-famous ALOHA.

Newcomers to Hawai'i often come to feel a gap -- where they don't belong. Sadly, that's a place of pain where Hawaiians have been beaten-down, uprooted & supplanted; when inclusiveness is abused as weakness. There is great untouched beauty throughout Hawai'i, and space to share: but you've taken & occupied our living room. Visitors becoming neighbors is welcome -- just do not trample your Babylon shoes on the toes and bones of my Tutu & family.  Please migrate elsewhere if you will not respect our elders and predecessors with courtesy! 

We must be alert & watchful (maka'ala) for imported weasels & destructive rats. Being watchful is easier with internet communication tools, but we must develop expertise to counteract professional agitators such as Andrew Walden - Hawaii Free Press, a troublemaker actively seeking to erase indigenous rights and edit-out Hawaiians from our islands. He pushes into our Hawaiian kitchen and invites the world to our table as if it were his own. Cheeky con artist!

Native Hawaiian people do not celebrate the violence, treachery and illegality that introduced American occupation and theft of our native lands. Many people came to Hawai'i under protection of the occupying power. Most are peaceful and (in my private opinion) most are welcome. Outspoken opponents of local culture and our Native Hawaiian inheritance threaten peaceful life - and put everybody at risk.

It is hard work to maintain PEACE

Fools are playing at the volcano's edge.

Pity Korea?

In some ways the energy and dynamism of Korea is refreshing, especially when compared to the rigidities of Japan. Surely we see more emotionalism in Korea ... though often not positive.

But Korea's deep-seated chauvinism consistently cripples the nation; it's hung-up on a pattern of one step forward, one step back.

The political world, major businesses, and universities are slow-moving, inward looking, and overly protective of privilege. Extreme competitiveness of Korean society focused on 스펙 (paper achievements) generates an entrenched corruption. Youth is stifled.

Cookie-cutter production has led to a frustrated people: each wanting to distinguish themselves, but without strong speciality, feeling lost in the herd. Frankly, I believe it is great that Koreans are discussing these problems: although (we are) slaves & beasts-of-burden, Awareness is Strength.

Remember the Korean Air assault by "nut rage" heiress Cho Hyun-ah? (조현아, link) -- Korea's oligarchy on both sides of the DMZ struts around with impunity, privileged & untouchable. Few top-level non-Koreans understand the nation, and such people are best rewarded for keeping quiet.

Korea, a divided land with great unrealized potential, will waste further decades due to uninspired leadership & bad management imposing hell on the citizenry --헬조선.  The stifling "Hell Joseon" reaches downward through the military, the rigid & corrupt domestically-entrenched universities, the oligarch-controlled business world, and deeply into family life. Sad...  especially because the Korean people have such great energy & potential.
The positive dimension: PRESSURE MAKES DIAMONDS.

Stealing Brazil

Recent legal maneuvers in Brazil deposed President Dilma Rousseff. Her valiant efforts to battle corruption and develop social inclusion have been cast aside by corrupt Brazilian legislators & judges, whose stated reason to impeach the President, (budget manipulation, pedaladas fiscais), was very distant from personal theft or corruption. More background is available here, and here (link).

US President Obama's government has not supported democracy in Brazil; but Yanqui's done plenty of high-level spying. Did the USA take opportunity to strongly back Rousseff's progressive government? No Way. Just the opposite -- as in Honduras, it's likely the imperialist hijacking of resources will now intensify, ignoring environmental concerns. Worse, we may see the growth of death squads as in Honduras and Egypt, with support that stretches back to Washington DC for extrajudicial violence. Tragic.

Predatory Press People

The most effective predators can hide in open sight, their kill methodology undetected, so they can successfully hunt again & again.

Such are the top American news people. Over the past five years Matt Lauer reportedly earned over US$100 million. Lauer's on-air persona is "just a friendly bloke" (his recent scoop eviscerating bad-boy swimmer Ryan Lochte was depicted in a sitting room, Lauer without socks). But Matt's $28m annual salary surely shows he's not your simple 'Bro ...

Anderson Cooper is a pretty face earning over $10 million every year from his reporting. Disarming and debonair, Anderson is steely strong & deceptive -- or he wouldn't be where he is.

News is deliberately entwined with entertainment. We're deceived by daily reporting and duped into overseas wars. Breathless intrigue drives our democracies, cynically steered by the powers of media. We've already endured a professional actor as U.S. President -- Worse is on the way...

Of course, behind the scenes are the real media barons: Rupert Murdoch has huge powers -- and a fortune of over US$10,000,000,000. ($10 billion)

If you're fortunate enough ever to have a microphone thrust to your face, remember behind the interviewer are businessmen who profit from scandal.
Best Shut Up.

My Experience of Counterfeit Capitalism

For most of my life, I've felt dog-eat-dog capitalism was unreasonable. Many people are born to difficulty, or temporarily weak. Others have huge advantages.

I've felt our communities should assist neighbors in need.

America's system of so-called free enterprise & market capitalism nonetheless provided some foundations for my life. Agree or disagree, it was a mechanism allowing calculated prediction and an underpinning for action. Somewhat understanding risks, everyday I made speculative choices based on a somewhat stable world view.

The bailout of 2008 changed my view of the world. Simply, the leadership elite bailed-out their friends, giving huge public funds to glaring, unmistakable losers (who were personally already wealthy), and absolutely undermined our system.

Bad managers should have lost their jobs: they were retained -- and rewarded.

Failed firms should have fertilized those enterprises more cautious & agile. Instead, the defeated status-quo were pushed forward, assisted by public money. It was a major & fundamental breach of global trade rules: American politicos gave state subsidies to prop-up chosen private enterprises. The dimension of accountability was shredded, torn-down, and subsequently ignored.
We had been forced to buy into the game of the Capitalist Pigs (where most of us are born disadvantaged); then, they suspended rules for their players, and assisted the recovery of our masters and overseers.

The toxic 1% helps itself.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Corporate Stooge

Needing to resign in disgrace just before the 2016 Democratic Party Convention could not further dull Debbie Wasserman Schultz. An establishment insider from south Florida, the former DemParty Chair was immediately named (an) Honorary Chairperson of the Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign.

Is this person a public servant?   ... a corporatist hack for our 1%?
Is the U.S. Congresswoman innocent & pure? Just slightly nasty?
Or a parasitic octopus sucking life & wealth to benefit her masters?

Was Mrs. Clinton forced to sacrifice her loyal lackey as coverup? ... Was Dirty Debbie ousted as Party Chair simply for doing as ordered -- to bring Clinton to the White House? Do I sniff a SCAPEGOAT?

Debbie's sure to return (link)... like Clinton, she's a zombie rogue

Note: Just after this posting, mindwatch.com suddenly received many thousands of new hits from Israel -- Debbie fans or extended family? ...her south Florida constituency took no notice of this blog.

My Vietnam War Lesson

US war in Vietnam and surrounding nations ended over 40 years ago. It was a hugely costly struggle: terrible injuries, tragic loss of life, cruel social upheaval, threat of death for people throughout Indochina (and young male Americans via forced conscription), excessive 'defense' spending, destruction of environment, betrayal of trust.

It's the last which continues to haunt many people. We are told the war is over, with no reckoning. The many errors and crimes were poorly counted, unanswered and seemingly forgotten. The U.S. leadership & ruling class dodged any Truth & Reconciliation Commission... Should wholesale destruction on such scale be tolerated with no analysis? Should trans-global butchery be excused without judging responsibility? America has ignored all consequences.

Architects of the war have escaped justice. Military planners moved to different projects. It's insufficient to simply mutter "Ooops!" Corporate profiteers & warmongers in the military along with Democrat & Republican war criminals evaded responsibility. America's genocidal leadership putrefied later decades.

We survivors of all types continue suffering post-traumatic stress:
that Vietnam War was too fucked-up to forget...

Land Thief Claims to be "Partner"

The USA intruded on Hawaiian sovereignty. The US military supported the overthrow of the Hawaiian government. The USA has taken huge areas of Hawaiian lands without compensation. Much land is occupied by the US military. Some of the seized land is highly sacred, including the historic burial site at Mokapu (Heleloa funeral grounds) which the Yankee Marine Corps bulldozed to create Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course -- one of many unnecessary military golf courses on Oahu.

The USA has repeatedly apologized to the Hawaiian people, but:

We want our land back from the intruder.

"Citizens' Guards" after US-backed overthrow of Hawai'i's government

Commandeering Hawaiʻi's ʻIolani Palace behind military cannons

Obama's Biggest Mistake?

US President Barack Obama has about 150 days remaining as president. He's pledged an all-out effort to pass TPP, Trans Pacific Partnership -- the highly pro-corporate trade deal.

It is indicative that his final legacy is selling-out the citizenry in favor of rich & powerful corporations. His likely successor, Hillary Clinton, may be supportive of Obama taking the heat; she's even more beholden to big business, but needs to answer to the people over coming years, while Obama can just fade from sight as baby Bush has done.

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize laureate, agrees the TPP push is Obama's great mistake (link). But it's only a mistake when seen from the perspective of the people represented... not a mistake from the narrow self-interest of money-grubbing politicos.

Olympic Scoundrels

Media coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics turned most gleeful not from human endeavor & sportsmanship, but from tragedy and hurtfulness.

Rupert Murdoch & the other media barons, Matt Lauer & "human interest" reporters, created Olympic Gold from dredging dirt.

Top stories producing GOLD for media corporations:

Olympic Media $coundrel Gold Medalist: Ryan Lochte, USA
Pissy prima donna Lochte heroically dodges bullets in Rio, returns to the USA with a relay gold after abandoning his teammates. Sorta sorry now...

Media $coundrel Silver Medalist: Renaud Lavillenie, France
Hometown favorite Thiago da Silva clears a new Olympic pole vault record. Defending Olympic Champion Lavillenie fails to match the height, and bitterly compares his experience of crowd animosity with Nazi racism at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. 

Media $coundrel Bronze Medalist: Hope Solo, USA
The heavily-favored US women's football (soccer) team is defeated by underdog Sweden. Just after the match, disappointed US goalkeeper Hope Solo calls the joyous Swedish team "Cowards." Sweden goes on to win Olympic Silver; US women go home empty-handed. Solo's subsequent six-month suspension by US Soccer for her "cowards" comment may be linked (reasonably?) to the US women's wage discrimination lawsuit against US soccer bureaucrats -- Solo is a major litigant -- [media & assorted lawyers are sure to profit from the controversy].

We media consumers must be aware that our emotions are exposed, and we each are played by media professionals like fish on the hook, with sport reporting as with political reporting. Next event: Clinton vs. Trump
Who's the CHUMP?

Correcting Kids

A creepy case from the USA: two twelve-year old girls repeatedly stab a classmate. They believe murder will satisfy the powerful demon Slender Man (an online character), and they'll be welcomed to live in his forest castle.

The victim survived 19 stab wounds.

The state of Wisconsin is legally treating the girls as adults.

Are the girls crazier than the prosecutor?  The whole case seems sickly fictional.

Educating Fans on Olympic Ideals

In a passionate & exciting Olympic pole vault competition, underdog Thiago da Silva cleared a personal best and new Olympic record 6.03m for the Olympic Championship. Defending champion Renaud Lavillenie took silver.

It's reported that late-night fans at Rio's Olympic stadium became so partisan as to boo when Frenchman Lavillenie sought to defeat Brazilian da Silva. Fans have now been cautioned on sportsmanship.

World recordholder Lavillenie compared his treatment by the crowd to that of African-American Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, when racial superiority and eugenics were underlying arguments leading to the deportations and mass exterminations of the following dark Nazi years.

Fans should at least clap politely for all competitors.

The hard work of every athlete should be respected. Let's remember the Olympic ideals of Excellence • Friendship • Respect (link). We might be swept-up at times with partisan support; and as spectators fail to understand the challenges being overcome. Many of us have great respect & awe for the Olympic Champion, but we should also spare a thought for those who sought mightily -- and were perhaps defeated by economic handicap, sudden illness or injury, or the unfairness of political interference; areas beyond the competitive venue of physical superiority or shortcoming.

And it might also be noted that as number one & world recordholder, the great champion Lavillenie wasted no energies when he was winning in comforting his many vanquished competitors. Now the Flying Frenchman is lost in tears, with his sob story stifling the Olympic achievements of new champion da Silva. Crybaby? Graceless loser? The fuel of champions needn't be the blood of competitors. Let's thank Lavillenie for a lesson on Olympic ideals. New championships are ahead -- for the mob to apportion both sympathy & glory.

Brash when Winning: French vaulter Renaud Lavillenie   (but tears in Rio)

Coe Must Go: No Olympic Spirit

The Olympic Truce goal is worthy of our respect. Though short-lived every four years, we're encouraged to rise above national squabbles and bloodshed.

Ill-conceived Olympic bans & boycotts have been part of world affairs for millennia. The ancient Games are poorly documented, but we find continuing work to impose TRUCE by those with higher vision than the typical "rip the throats out of those goddamn foreign scum."

Sadly, the UK's Lord Coe is a big part of the problem. He and the IAAF Council banned all 68 Russian track & field athletes without data on individual guilt (one Russian woman based in the USA was reinstated on special appeal). Blaming innocent athletes for the crimes of their government bureaucracy was a political decision seriously tarnishing Rio 2016. It diminishes the competition & the medals awarded at these Olympic Games.

As President of the IAAF, Coe has an important & overriding obligation to protect innocent athletes from discrimination. Failing miserably, Coe did not raise his voice against collective punishment -- Sebastian Coe should resign in disgrace.

Throughout 2016, as specially required by the International Association of Athletics Federations, each athlete candidate to the Russian National Team has had to submit to both Russian and international anti-doping controls. But then the IAAF banned all Russian athletes. Surely some IAAF method could have been arranged to ensure athlete integrity (six months in a neutral nation training camp?) -- but bureaucratic & political squabbles sacrificed the athletes. The world is treated to a scandalous tabloid tale of a "mouse hole" at a Sochi Winter Olympics anti-doping centre that purportedly happened years ago and has little relevance to track & field. Anti-Russian media meanwhile condemns that nation for its territorial battles with the Ukraine. Consider the evidence of state-sponsored bribery to secure the Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, London and Tokyo Olympic Games -- that doesn't mean every athlete is dirty. Coe & Co. poor choice of a politicized blanket ban caused great harm, extending to the European Junior Championships and Paralympics. The UK's Lord Coe is a self-aggrandizing political operative lacking respect for the Olympics.

Political boycotts and blanket collective bans harm competition. One of the charming points of Olympic competition is when an underdog suddenly excels and wins. Pompous Sebastian Coe personally owes much to political interference with the Olympic Games. His own Olympic medals were won in 1980 and 1984 -- both competitions severely & artificially limited by boycott. Improve judging & anti-doping monitors. Let's encourage the widest possible competition and support the glories of Olympic achievement.

Let's similarly heed Roerich Pact efforts, where the Banner of Peace should protect our global cultural heritage (also Hague Convention of 1954). Sadly, Taliban atrocities in Bamiyan (Afghanistan), along with Bush/Blair bombing of world heritage sites in Iraq, Syria & Libya, show we've yet a very long way to go before achieving minimal levels of civilized interaction.

Olympic Hijacking

The world of sports, athletes and spectators, has been sabotaged by political interference with the Olympic Games.

Athletes from Russia have been impeded. Track & field (athletics) competitors from Russia have been totally banned from the Rio 2016 Olympics.  The USA, the UK, and their allies are punishing the Russian Federation, the world's largest nation, for political & military involvement in the Crimea.

But this forced ban on Russian athletes cheapens the medals being awarded. Each Olympic Champion may have been defeated if competition were truly open. Each medal is diminished by an asterisk noting some competitors were excluded.

Arguing Russia's being banned for widespread doping is bogus: catch the cheaters, but clean athletes must compete. Ground zero for cheating scum dopers is the USA: Lance Armstrong, the BALCO scandal, the disqualified Marion Jones, etc. Fastest American Justin Gatlin has been caught and penalized at least twice for doping...

The Olympics are supposed to rise above politics for a brief period every four years. We've cheated the organizers in Brazil by allowing these Olympic Games to be tarnished. Leaders and spectators should share sadness with athletes and shortchanged competition.

Devils You Know?

Progressives are disgusted with the major party "choices" for U.S. President. We've learned that from the start, the fix was in to select corporatist pro-TPP Hillary Clinton as nominee for Democrats.

But the shit continues. At this instant, I'd need to lookup the name of her running mate (from Indiana). Why'd she choose such a feeb for veep?

Because American people today will eat shit and say it tastes Great!
USA NUMBER ONE
God Bless Us.