W.A.M. Asks — Who Needs Christmas When You Can Worship “THE ONE”?

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

As we all know, the Obama Transition Team is hard at it, paving the way for the Ascension of “The One.”  It may be slightly steeper climb since the advent of Blago-gate, but the machine churns on.

Recently, we wrote about the House Parties being pushed by Team Obama and how the issue of healthcare was one of  the issues that would be at the top of the agenda during a night of House Parties on 12/15.  (See “Healthcare Reform” PR Blitz, Screw Job on the Way–And YOU Can Join In!” from 12/8).

Other bloggers have written in detail about the recent “viral net campaign” video that was issued by Obama’s campaign manager, David Pflouffe, for the “Change is Coming” House Parties which are scheduled for tonight (12/15).  But there have been other coordinated actions that all point to the way Obama plans to do business–basically, using his huge database of names to “rally the troops” on issues.   For example, in addition to the Plouffe email/video, we’ve seen a steady stream of  “synchronized” campaign messages which have been targeted to those on the email lists of the DNC, the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton.  I’m not on any of these lists anymore, but as a one-time donor to the Clinton Foundation years ago, I recently received a letter by mail from the Clinton Foundation which is “reaching out” to me “to share our plans for publishing the names of the Foundation’s donors.”  Interestingly, the letter asks for my support and if I have any questions, I should contact the Foundation’s office by phone by…today, 12/15.

Here are some of the other “campaign messages” that have gone out:

*A request from Joe Biden for donations to help pay off Hillary Clinton’s campaign debts. (Why now, more than a month after the
election?  Asking for $100.)

*Another, sent by a female singer, targeted exclusively to former Hillary supporters, urging participation in a new network.

*The DNC offering hats and 4-year Obama calendars for donations of $25 or $35 (order by the magic date of 12/15  for Christmas delivery!).

*A message from Donna Brazile on behalf of her “pals” at the DCCC, begging for “$20, $35, or more ” so that the donor can “be automatically entered into their Witness History Contest for a chance to win flight and hotel accommodations to be in Washington D.C. for this once-in-a-lifetime event” (includes a pass to a pre-Inauguration luncheon).

*An invitation to a “Hillary Live!” event in NYC on 12/15 to help retire her debt, attended by “Senator Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton, hosted by America Ferrara.”

* A message from “actor and activist”  Melissa Fitzgerald who states that “As an actor, co-founder of the organization Voices in Harmony and long-time supporter of all the great work Hillary Clinton has done over the years, I am proud to introduce you to an organization that has given me a platform to promote my ideas and helped me empower change. The American Democracy Institute (ADI) was founded in 2005 with the help of Hillary Clinton, who served as the chair of ADI’s youth initiative that engaged over 10,000 young activists around the country… Please take a look at the American Democracy Institute and all the great ways that you can empower change.”

Quite a barrage of activity, and all just before the holidays, many culminating on December 15!!  By the way, NONE of these solicitations offers any greetings for the season–these are all about business.

To many of us, it sure seems that Obama is organizing for the Inauguration and beyond and that the REAL Obama campaign has just begun! The object is to create the aura of a phony “mandate for change” that he’ll exploit after he’s sworn in.

You may have noticed the W.A.M logo in the right sidebar.  As a participant in the “Wake Up Amerca”  (W.A.M.) movement, this blogger agrees with most of W.A.M’s  ideas about why all this “campaigning” (“propaganda wave”)  is still going on, particularly at a time of year when most voters normally would expect a break from politicking.

If you stop and think for a minute and look beneath the surface to see what’s really going on, you might agree with some of  W.A.M.’s conclusions, too:

The Obama camp is currently mobilizing every available still  delusional follower, to propagate the illusion of a general public
mandate FOR WHAT?:

**To build sympathy amidst Clinton supporters, to seduce more  women supporters, re-activate netroots Obamatrons, expand    contact  lists via house parties on the same night – in order to  further extend their tentacles into local communities WHILE staging
an ‘historic’ inaugural event turn-out (multiplied and  magnified by the their bought off MSM collaborators) is probably for the following purposes:

** to build a ‘bandwagon’ illusion of public support for a forthcoming sweep of radical Executive Orders to be put in place
right after the inauguration PLUS

** to mislead and divert the public eye, providing Pelosi & Co.a  head start on radical legislation – as soon as the new Congress enters session. No doubt bills – initiated by the new” un-Dem” Congress will be filled with hidden pork and carry the added dangers of secretly negotiated- buried in fine print riders!

ALSO NOTICE – in their arrogance- all these email mass solicitations beg for $$$ – at a time when obama claims a ‘campaign surplus’ and spends our $ extravagantly for his ‘coronation’; and prepares to run federal reserve presses non-stop to bail out his favored interests and backers. Now, compounding all that, we should all now crimp our own Christmas shopping to send them EVEN MORE OF OUR MONEY?! (As for soliciting small donors to repay Hillary’s debt – her own online advocates tapped themselves dry
this summer-at the same time the obama camp ‘forgot’ to fulfill their promise to help take care of that matter. Now we should do that again while he flashes his misuse of taxpayers’ $ on his “historic’ Inauguration – just so MSM can put on a splashy TV show to persuade the whole planet that EVERYONE else worships him?

So now that we know what they are up to, why they are doing it and how they are going  about it, the question is: Will we be asleep – and taken by surprise – when all the big plans start happening in 2009?

As W.A.M. points out,  George Washington shrewdly attacked the British over the Christmas holidays – while they were sleeping. We know how that turned out –  he won!

What can we do? Well, besides staying awake, we have to work, as W.A.M. says,  to ” help spread Truth in Information and be prepared to take action to  preserve our democracy in the face of this corrupt, self serving new administration.”

This site has joined the growing number of sites from across the political spectrum to help start what will hopefully become a large network of blogs to help counter the spin and misinformation that is showering down on us.  Obama drew in about 400 bloggers to support his campaign…now, IT’S OUR TURN!  By creating such a network that spread the messages and action alerts that will be coming from W.A.M. in the future, we may have a shot of doing what the big boys in D.C., the Obama blogosphere and the media do…put out our own, unified and SYNCHRONIZED messages that gets repeated continuously to Americans, just like the media giants do (for example, the latest is the “Blagojevich is crazy, nothing there to see re: Obama).

If you haven’t yet done so, sign in to get involved in the non-partisan Wake Up America movement by clicking on the logo on this site or visit www.wam08.org. You don’t have to be a blogger to do, so, either!  There are lots of ideas about how individuals can work at this, too!

Let’s get organized and increase our clout!  W.A.M. offers us the means to do so!!

And stay tuned! This site will be bringing the latest W.A.M. announcements and action alerts in the New Year!

Why, Oh Why? Melamine in Infant Formula?

(Editor’s Note: With “healthcare reform” beginning to gather steam (see previous posts at IA on the subject), an equally important area of concern involving health and safety issues involves the FDA and who may be appointed to head this department.  See here for a rundown from the  Washington Post on the problems the agency faces and a list of possible candidates being considered by the Obama Transition Team.–InsightAnalytical-GRL)

~~By kenosha Marge

I’ve been following the story about melamine in infant formula. It just seemed so indicative of our dysfunctional government that a toxic substance would be in a substance that we should insist be as close to100% safe as could possibly be achieved. Isn’t the FDA there to protect our children and us? Shouldn’t they be leading the charge to ensure that standard? They would if we had a government agency that protects and serves the people of this country and not the corporations.

I learned that melamine is sometimes illegally added to food products in order to increase the apparent protein content. I learned that there are tests that estimate protein levels by measuring the nitrogen content, so they can be misled by adding nitrogen-rich compounds such as melamine. Oh yummy! High protein and sticks to your ribs too.

Ingestion of melamine may lead to reproductive damage or bladder or kidney stones, which can lead to bladder cancer. Is that a chance most parents would want to take with their babies? Probably not but then they would have to be aware of the problem before they could get all irate about it wouldn’t they? And then they would have to disbelieve the FDA which now says, “nothing to worry about here”.

A short time ago federal food regulators said they were unable to set a safety threshold for the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula. Now, however, they found a way to settle on a standard that allows for higher levels than those found in U.S.-made batches of the product. It’s perfectly logical if you believe that what was bad last week isn’t bad this week. It’s perfectly logical if you believe the FDA knows what the hell it’s talking about or if you think they give a crap about the safety of the citizens, and their babies, of this or any other country.

Food and Drug Administration officials set a threshold of 1 part per million of melamine in formula, provided a related chemical is not present. They insisted the formulas are safe. Because saying that the formula was not safe would be bad for business don’t you know, and that’s the FDA’s real concern.

The Associated Press reported that FDA tests found traces of melamine in the infant formula of one major U.S. manufacturer and cyanuric acid, a chemical relative, in the formula of a second major maker. The contaminated samples, which both measured at levels below the new standard, were analyzed several weeks ago.

What exactly is melamine? Before I get nuts about it perhaps I should know a little more about what I’m discussing. After all, it’s only infant formula and how important can that be?

Let’s see: Melamine is an organic base and a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 66% nitrogen by mass and, if mixed with resins, has fire retardant properties due to its release of nitrogen gas when burned or charred, and has several other industrial uses.

I am not a chemist. I do not understand a whole lot about about chemicals. All I know is that there are a whole lot of them I do not want to find in food. Particularly in infant formula. Who knew we needed a fire retardant in infant formula? Has there been a rash of infant formula fires I didn’t hear about?

Let’s try the wisegeek. Hmm, wisegeek says: “Melamine is an organic compound that is often combined with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, a synthetic polymer which is fire resistant and heat tolerant. Melamine resin is a very versatile material with a highly stable structure. Uses for melamine include whiteboards, floor tiles, kitchenware, fire retardant fabrics, and commercial filters. Melamine can be easily molded while warm, but will set into a fixed form. This property makes it ideally suited to certain industrial applications.”

I don’t know about anyone else but the idea of something that is used to make floor tiles being inside infant formula disturbs me. I used to eat off of melamine dishes. The idea of ingesting them never occurred to me. Nor anyone else I know.

No need to worry because our every vigilant FDA is once again lagging to the rescue and sorting out all the brouhaha.

The Food and Drug Administration was formed in 1901 as the Bureau of Chemistry. Then in 1927 it became the Food Drug and Insecticide Administration. The word insecticide somehow got dropped along the way and we have our current champions, the FDA. Their headquarters are at 5600 Fishers Lane in Rockville, Maryland. They have about 9300 employees and an annual budget of $2.3 billion. The commissioner and politician in charge is Andrew von Eschenbach. Their parent agency is the Department of Health and Human Services.

These people have a budget of $2.3 billion and they can’t guarantee the safety of infant formula? Oh wait, they just tell us it is safe to have one of the ingredients for floor tile and kitchenware in infant formula. This is the agency that is supposed to protect the foods we eat and the medications we take. Perhaps I am being alarmist when I just don’t think having an ingredient for floor tile in baby formula is a good thing. Maybe I’m just a tad picky about what chemicals my great-granddaughter might be ingesting when I give her a bottle.

A more naïve me used to believe that the FDA would protect the citizenry and ensure that their foods and drugs were safe. It has now my belief that every agency in Washington D.C. is all about protecting corporations from their many and egregious assaults on the public health. When does corruption cross over into depraved indifference as they say on Law and Order?

Many of us are told that we are slobs and it’s our fault that we aren’t healthy cause we don’t eat right and don’t exercise and oh, by the way, it’s quite all right to feed your baby floor tile. Non-fat and no sugar! Hooray. And you won’t find that at a Fast Food drive through. Or maybe it’s in the food there too. Oh my.

What to do, what to do? Go graze in a nearby field? Chomp on the bark of a tree? Or are they saturated with pesticides that contain chemicals that will make rot us from the inside out?

The one thing you can safely count on is that your government will do nothing to protect you and everything it can to protect the corporations that are poisoning you and your children. Because the corporations got the money and the power and we/you/me don’t. That is ultimately why the FDA is telling us that certain levels of melamine are not harmful in infant formula. The question is, how many of us believe them?