REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons
SUNDAY
Quote of the Day
December 15, 20 13
'The numbers make it look like an epidemic. Well,
it's not. It's preposterous. This is a concoction to
justify the giving out of medication at
unprecedented and unjustifiable levels.'
Dr. Keith Conners, a psychologist and
professor emeritus at Duke University,
on the rise of A.D.H.D. (attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder) diagnoses
and prescriptions for stimulants over
the years that has coincided with a
two-decade campaign by pharmaceutical
companies to publicize the syndrome
and promote the pills to doctors,
educators and parents
New York Times
December 15, 2013
Toon of the Day
Lose, Lose
Tony Auth
MONDAY
Quote of the Day
'A major challenge for progressives is whether it is
possible forge consensus on vision and program [or
as consultants call it, narrative]. Obama is re-
emphasizing an emphasis on economic inequality,
framed as a choice between being on your own or all
in this together. That’s a start for Democrats, and a
welcome echo of Occupy Wall Street. The same
theme accounts for the exceptional rise of Warren
and De Blasio. But it is a fuzzy and incomplete
vision, a blended blur of the New Deal (“expand
Social Security”) and the New Economy (“Facebook
and Google will set us free”). The faulty vision
reflects fault lines in the underlying coalition.
Balancing the contradictions is the key to building a
winning majority coalition electorally; too far in
either direction can result in splits which favor the
Republican strategy of divide-to-rule.'
Tom Hayden, longtime activist and
former California state senator
Peace Exchange Bulletin
December 13, 2013
Toon of the Day
Transparency
Nick Anderson
TUESDAY
Quote of the Day
'The NSA today is out of control and we need strong
legislation to rein them in. In a free society, the
government does not collect data on tens of millions
of people, 99.999 percent of them having nothing to
do with terrorism. We must be vigilant in protecting
the American people from terrorism, but we can do
that without taking away the constitutional and
privacy rights which make us a free nation.'
Senator Bernie Sanders (Ind. - Vt.)
Bernie Buzz
December 17, 2013
Toon of the Day
Santa
M. Wuerker
WEDNESDAY
Quote of the Day
'... 2013 taught millions of Americans that
capitalism repeatedly contradicts the democratic
idea that majority decisions should govern society
as a whole. The system's tendency toward deepening
inequalities of income and wealth operated across
2013 in direct contradiction to the will of
substantial American majorities.'
Richard D. Wolff, professor of
Economics Emeritus,
University of Massachusetts
'Capitalism and Democracy: Year-End Lessons'
Truthout
December 18, 2013
Toon of the Day
The Bridge
Jeff Danziger
THURSDAY
Quote of the Day
'So many medical professionals benefit from
overprescribing that it is difficult to find a neutral
source of information. Prominent doctors get paid by
drug companies to deliver upbeat messages to their
colleagues at forums where they typically exaggerate
the effectiveness of the drugs and downplay their
side effects. Organizations that advocate on behalf of
patients often do so with money supplied by drug
companies, including the makers of A.D.H.D.
stimulants. Medical researchers paid by drug
companies have published studies on the benefits of
the drugs, and medical journals in a position to
question their findings profit greatly from
advertising of A.D.H.D. drugs.'
Editorial
New York Times
December 19, 2013
Toon of the Day
Pipelines
M. Wuerker - Politico
FRIDAY
Quote of the Day
'Despite the subsequent decision of the Group of 20
in 2009 on the need for rules to supervise what is
now a globally integrated financial system, world
leaders have spent the last five years in retreat,
resorting to unilateral actions that have made a
mockery of global coordination. Already, we have
forgotten the basic lesson of the crash: Global
problems need global solutions. And because we
failed to learn from the last crisis, the world's
bankers are carrying us toward the next one.'
Gordon Brown, a Labour member of the British
Parliament, is a former chancellor of the
Exchequer and prime minister
New York Times
December 20, 2013
Toon of the Day
Equal at School
Signe Wilkinson
SATURDAY
Quote of the Day
'Arthur C. Brooks deserves credit for pointing out
that we now know a lot about what makes people
happy. Unfortunately, when Mr. Brooks says that
about 40 percent of happiness stems from things
that happen to us in life, both the peaks and the
troughs, he greatly overestimates their importance.
What is quite important is how we interpret or
construe the things that happen to us.
'Second, Mr. Brooks's embrace of the free market as
the best tool we have for promoting happiness is off
the mark. He identifies faith, family, friendship and
work as key determinants of happiness, much more
important than wealth, as long as people are above
subsistence. So let us ask just how the market
contributes to faith, family, friendship and work.
'On faith, the real "war on Christmas" is not the
prohibition of religious icons and acts in the public
square; it is the turning of almost all religious
occasions into unbroken opportunities to shop.
Score one strike against the market.
'Second, family and friendships suffer amid long
work hours, low wages and inadequate child care.
Strike two against the market.
'Finally, the joy of work comes largely from its
meaning, not from its bottom line. So when people
in all walks of life are under tremendous pressure to
be more productive and efficient, the joy of work is
threatened. That is strike three.
'So yes, by all means, let us foster the aspects of life
that really contribute to happiness. But let us at the
same time acknowledge that market
fundamentalism is probably the biggest threat to
human happiness that we face.'
Letter To the Editor: Re "A Formula for Happiness"
New York Times Sunday Review, Dec. 15
Barry Schwartz, professor of psychology at
Swarthmore College and the author of "The Paradox
of Choice."
Toon of the Day
Rob Rogers
Spread the word