We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Newest Medical Combine: Delis and Hungry Docs

by James Ridgeway from his blog, the Unsilent Generation.
Over the last year or so, there has been a campaign to break the hold of the pharmaceutical companies on doctors. The aim is to get more transparency so as to show the true relations between the drug industry and doctors, which involves taking gift , getting exotic all-expense- paid vacations, signing their names to articles they didn’t write, and on and on. The ultimate goal is to expose and eventually stop these practices.