Tetons in the mist 

The Bottom Line

Financial security does not require extraordinary income or investment "home runs." It requires, first and foremost, that you start saving and investing early, and add to your investments consistently.

Iraq: Good news for a change

Turnout Higher Than Expected in Iraqi Elections

I'm not saying that this is an excuse for an illegal and immoral invasion. But it is still good news.

Democrats want political gains from privatization battle

for immediate distribution:
from the it's-ok-to-shoot-this-person dept.
Interesting framing of the issue in the headline. The body of the article explains the the Democrates are opposing the Social Security Plan.
There is no notion in the headline that there is any national service being formed by our elected officials. Simple stated, the headline is willfully destructive propoganada, not merely of party but of country.
What is a resonable response to the exercise of paid speech that knowingly and with disregard weakens the nation for personal gain?

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

"I encourage the Iraqi people to overcome their fear. It is important. It will preserve the integrity of Iraq," spokesman Thaer al-Naqeeb said. "If you vote...the terrorists will be defeated."
Pity the people. If they vote, they will be killed. If they don't vote, they will be killed. The can die moving forward, or die standing still.
Was there any other way? Is there any other way? Who will be next? Will it be the same?
Maybe the outcome of Israel and Pallestine will show what is, or is not, possible.

Individualism

(From our fishing trip in Marathon, FL, December 2004)

Night Train by Bruce Cockburn, from The Charity Of Night (1996)

Not a knife-throw from here you can hear the night train passing
That's the sound somebody makes when they're getting away
Leaving next week's hanging jury far behind them
Prisoner only of the choices they've made
Night Train

Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
The moon is floating somewhere out at sea
I'm an island in the blur of noise and colour
Alcatraz, St. Helena, Patmos and the Chateau d'If
Night Train

Everyone's an island edged with sand
A temporary refuge where somebody else can stand
Till the sea that binds us like the forced tide of a blood oath
Will wear it down -- dissolve it -- recombine it

Anyone can die here -- they do it every day
It doesn't take much effort tho it goes against the grain
And the ultimate forgetfulness of violence
Sweeps the landscape like the headlight of a train
Night Train

Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
Starlight shines like glass shards in dark hair
And the mind's eye tumbles out along the steel track
Fixing every shadow with its stare
Night Train

And in the absence of a vision there are nightmares
And in the absence of compassion there is cancer
Whose banner waves over palaces and mean streets
And the rhythm of the night train is a mantra

Pelican - Marathon Key, Fl 

Number 3

How many more?

From WashPo's "White House Briefing"

Eric Boehlert writes in Salon: "One day after President Bush ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to help promote administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire has emerged. Salon has confirmed that Michael McManus, a marriage advocate whose syndicated column, 'Ethics & Religion,' appears in 50 newspapers, was hired as a subcontractor by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage initiative. McManus championed the plan in his columns without disclosing to readers he was being paid to help it succeed.

Bush Administration to World: Fuck You

Showing Cheney Level Respect

Parka, Ski Cap at Odds With Solemnity of Auschwitz Ceremony

"Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. And indeed, the vice president looked like an awkward boy amid the well-dressed adults.

"Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words 'Staff 2001.' It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag.

"It is also worth mentioning that Cheney was wearing hiking boots -- thick, brown, lace-up ones."

Organizations amplify the personalities of their leaders.
Aphorism of Zen Master This

Read My Ears (Friedman on Bush going to Europe)

"Let me put this as bluntly as I can: There is nothing that the Europeans want to hear from George Bush, there is nothing that they will listen to from George Bush that will change their minds about him or the Iraq war or U.S. foreign policy. Mr. Bush is more widely and deeply disliked in Europe than any U.S. president in history. Some people here must have a good thing to say about him, but I haven't met them yet."

But we Americans, we know how to solve that. Hell, we already did it with French Fries... we renamed them, since the French, disagreeing with our going to war, were obviously wimps, fops, twits and cowards. Its easy to extend that to Europe. But then, there aren't that many French here. Lots and lots of Italians, a goodly number of Germans, Irish... I think we had best tread lightly before we criticize the green, annoy a German or speak badly about a pizza and that guy behind the counter.

On a more serious note, the world sees the US as a people who have sanctioned war and murder on a holy crusade, and have re-elected a neo facist. A very very well protected neo facist.

Presently we go into an imaginary future of present moments. An endless stream of constant now. We dream and project some other place and call it future with the hopes that it may, one day, be now.

Propaganda

A second syndicated columnist has admitted being paid by Bush's government to promote Bush agenda.

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.

"The Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples" and "educate teens on the value of delaying childbearing until marriage," Gallagher wrote in National Review Online, for example, adding that this could "carry big payoffs down the road for taxpayers and children."

But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal.

The achievement of great material success requires an unlimited capacity for self-delusion and rationalization.
Aphorism of Zen Master This

... Aint A River In Egypt

From WashPo's "White House Briefing" blog.

As Guy Dinmore recounted in the Financial Times on Jan. 13: "According to Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia and head of the independent Middle East Policy Council, Mr Bush recently asked Mr Powell for his view on the progress of the war. 'We're losing,' Mr Powell was quoted as saying. Mr Freeman said Mr Bush then asked the secretary of state to leave."

What is $80 billion?

A breakdown of $80 billion

Knight Ridder Newspapers

Here's another way to look at $80 billion a year, including per-hour costs and a comparison to total U.S. Civil War costs.

How $80 billion breaks down:

- $6.7 billion a month

-$1.5 billion a week

-$219 million a day

-$9.1 million an hour

- $152,000 a minute

- $2,500 a second

That's more than the cost of the entire Civil War: It was $5.2 billion in then-dollars, $64.1 billion in 2004 dollars.

Source: U.S. Civil War Center at Louisiana State University

Did Gonzales get Bush off?

"In public, they were making a big show of how he was prepared to serve," said Crain. "In the back room, they were trying to get him off."

Geez, remind you of any other time in Bush's life? As in Vietnam?

Bush Inauguration Speech: A "Vacuous Sermon," A "Global Crusade" Against "Defenseless States"

"If the speech was to be taken literally, then clearly it would imply commitment to some sort of a global crusade vis-a-vis a variety of states with many of whom we have all sorts of mutual concerns, even if we don't like their practical policies."
Finally! My god, finally someone speaks out!
The speech is the documented ravings of a mad man.
If you wonder how great murderers came to power, ask yourself the question: what are you willing to do? What are you waiting for?
"And when they came for me, there was no one left to call to for help"

The Speech Misheard Round the World

"Yet while these inconsistencies may not bother the president's followers or harm his standing in America, they matter to the rest of the world. Few foreigners are even aware of America's hybrid conception of freedom, much less accepting of it. In most of the rest of the world, the president's inaugural address was heard merely as hypocrisy."
Heard as hypocrisy? Heard?
Well, if that's the case, then I think Hitler was misunderstood, and the media really did him in.
This kind of reasoning makes me a bit shamed to use words at all.

Daily Kos :: The people speak: 100% Dean endorsements at DNC/CDC meeting

"Al Sharpton endorsed vice chair candidate Marjorie Fields-Harris with a rousing speech (his best line: "Condoleeza Rice is my color, but Barbara Boxer is my kind!"), and as you might expect, he got the room jumping."
Three cheers for Al.

Fair and Balanced

Check out the video linked to above.

Fair And Balanced

On Fox News Channel, you're free to speak about the coronation of George W... unless you've got the nerve to criticize Dear Leader. Then you get a Fox News Meltdown^TM.

Bush Pledges to Spread Freedom (washingtonpost.com)

Bush has no shame: the man is delusional.
He will say anything, and read anything (as if they were his own throughts) by whatever his writers give him.
Bush might be thinking of making the entire world Christian? That's more consistent with his thinking.
He has 4 perfect years of total bullshit.
Bush has NO credibility

Richard Armitage

I'm disappointed that Iraq hasn't turned out better. And that we weren't able to move forward more meaningfully in the Middle East peace process."

Then, after a minute's pause, he adds a third regret: "The biggest regret is that we didn't stop 9/11. And then in the wake of 9/11, instead of redoubling what is our traditional export of hope and optimism we exported our fear and our anger. And presented a very intense and angry face to the world. I regret that a lot."

Outgoing Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage

"There's big money in helping people avoid facing reality."
Aphorism of Zen Master This

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Four (or Two) more years

Now a few days shy of the inauguration of the president let us look into the crystal ball and see what the next four years (if Bush is not impeached in two years) has to offer.

War: There is some talk of what the next battle will be. The Bush administration has taken the election results as a sign that the American public agree with their actions in Iraq. Of course 48-49% of Americans voted against them, but I suppose that means nothing to them.

There is a reason why the founders of the nation tried to build in protections for minorities (the tyranny of the majority the old Republican types used to call it, but now that they have power, so I guess it is now “who cares about that”).

I am not sure about what you remember from the election but I do not recall that the president ran on the platform of the Iraq War being a good idea. If Bush had said, a vote for me is a vote for the Iraq War then maybe, just maybe he could say that there is some support… Yadda yadda yadda, we know that reality has no bearing on what they do. Just claim what you want, you have the media on your side.

But the Haliburton Administration has its eyes set for the next war. Even before finishing this one. The next war is likely with Iran. I am not sure how they will be able to get it started. Maybe we could come up with a little contest; how will the Iran War start? My guess is attacks by Iranian Army regulars on U.S. service men (years later it will be shown that the U.S. service men were sent into Iranian territory where they were attacked) or maybe it will be Iranian agents found in Iraq ready to blow something up? Who knows but take your best guess now and in a year or two be the winner of the Prophesy Award!

Domestically there will remain an effort to reverse the gains of the last 70 years made by everyday people (social security, a flatter tax rate (we basically have one now) etc) under the guise of shrinking government. You might recall that Republicans have been shrinking government since the days or Reagan, that is 24 years, and it has done nothing but grow. And it was not Clinton who grew it either. Bush has been responsible for the largest growth of government in the period of time. We can go into the benefits or the problems of the growth under Bush but it sure seems to me that Bush see government as a solution to some problem.

It sure will be interesting to see how all this will add up. One has to admit that Bush is quite bold in his actions. I cannot tell whether he really understands what he is doing though. I know he is a smart man but his arrogance and power lust are likely fooling him and his inability to brook any disagreement from staff pushes him further from reality. Are there no checks left in the system? Is there no one of power who is willing to take the risk of coming out against this despotic rule? Now is the time for true leaders. Where are they?

Social Security

Bush: "Social Security headed for bankruptcy"
Bush: Wrong on Iraq, Wrong on Social Security

Q&A on Social Security

By Bill Straub, Scripps Howard News Service
January 16, 2005

Q: Is there a Social Security crisis?

A: No. There is no imminent threat to Social Security as the word "crisis" might indicate. Even if nothing is done to change the system, the Congressional Budget Office predicts retired people can expect to receive full benefits to 2052 — 47 years hence. Social Security trustees, meanwhile, using more conservative data, said the system will be able to pay 100 percent of promised benefits until 2042.

Thereafter, if no changes are made and money continues to flow into the system through the payroll tax, recipients can expect to receive about 75 percent of their anticipated benefits.

Q: Is Social Security going bankrupt?

A: Hardly. As a result of reforms adopted in the early 1980s that increased payroll contributions, Social Security trust funds presently maintain more than $1.4 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds and the assets are growing. About 154 million people are paying into the system. More money is entering than is being paid out.

Q: So what's the problem?

A: Beginning in 2018, Social Security will start paying out more than it collects, forcing the system to dip into the trust fund. The baby boom generation, the largest in the nation's history, born between 1946 and 1964 starting right after World War II, begins collecting its benefits. Today, there are three workers depositing money into the system for each beneficiary. Within a few years, the ratio will drop to 2-to-1. The 77 million boomers present an obvious strain to the system, leading the president and groups like AARP to address the issue.

Q: What does President Bush recommend?

A: The details remain unclear — the administration has yet to offer a proposal — but basically he wants to permit younger workers to take a portion of the payroll taxes targeted for Social Security and invest the money in personal savings accounts. Meanwhile, older Americans will receive full Social Security benefits.

Q: What are personal savings accounts?

A: Basically, they are government-approved investment plans. Currently, excess funds in the Social Security system are invested in U.S. Treasury bonds, which on average earn lower interest rates than stocks. Workers under the Bush plan would have a range of investment options and the money accrued from these investments would go into the individual's personal account, not into the system.

Q: What's the advantage there?

A: President Bush maintains the personal investment accounts will earn a better rate of return than that realized from the U.S. Treasury bonds.

Q: Are there any drawbacks?

A: It certainly isn't a cheap solution. Analysts predict the transition costs — the price for moving from the current system to the hybrid system — could hit $2 trillion.

Q: Anything else?

A: Among those opposing the plan is AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, which maintains the president's plan is too risky. The genius behind Social Security, AARP says, is that it provides retirees with a guaranteed, defined payment that they can count on month-to-month. The White House plan likely will reduce any guaranteed payment and there are no assurances that beneficiaries will earn more money through personal savings accounts. Basically, opponents assert the Bush plan would shred the safety net provided by Social Security.

First Image from Titan

14 January 2005
This raw image was returned by the ESA Huygens DISR camera after the probe descended through the atmosphere of Titan. It shows the surface of Titan with ice blocks strewn around. The size and distance of the blocks will be determined when the image is properly processed.

Huygens lands on Titan

Huygens lands on Titan

14 January 2005 ESA PR 03-2005. Today, after its seven-year journey through the Solar System on board the Cassini spacecraft, ESA’s Huygens probe has successfully descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, and safely landed on its surface.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

My favorite Republican president of the 20th century (Really a draw with TR)

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Bush Plans Sharp Cuts in HUD Community Efforts (washingtonpost.com)

"Bush Plans Sharp Cuts in HUD Community Efforts
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 14, 2005; Page A01
The White House will seek to drastically shrink the Department of Housing and Urban Development's $8 billion community branch, purging dozens of economic development projects, scrapping a rural housing program and folding high-profile anti-poverty efforts into the Labor and Commerce departments, administration officials said yesterday."

Who IS this man!?

Quelle surprise!: Iraq Is a Terrorist Training Ground, Study Shows

We can bypass all the "nobody expected this or could see this coming" excuses from the Bush administration straight to "this report shows that the invasion of Iraq was justified".

Group Says It Relocated 300 Orphans (washingtonpost.com)

"A Virginia-based missionary group said this week that it has airlifted 300 'tsunami orphans' from the Muslim province of Banda Aceh to Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, where it plans to raise them in a Christian children's home."
Tis an ill wind that blows nobody some good.
I am proud to say there will be no new Jews.

WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish (washingtonpost.com)

WHFS Changes Its Tune to Spanish
Alternative Rock Pioneer Targets Latino Audience
By Teresa Wiltz and Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, January 13, 2005; Page A01
WHFS-FM, the Washington area radio station that was a pioneering purveyor of alternative rock to generations of young music fans, did a programming U-turn yesterday by ditching the genre for a Spanish-language, pop-music format that transforms it into the largest Spanish-language station on the local dial.

In an abiding interest in low wages, lawn care, car washing at low low prices, the Republican party leads the way to the sale the the United States. keeping the borders open (at the same time billions are spend to, ummm, close the borders to terrorists?) We can only hope that a revitalized Democratic Party under Howard Dean will end the pandering to cheap cheap cheap.
No, I don't think the latinization of the United States is a good thing. I do think the growing strength of South America thumbing its nose at the world bank is a good thing. Oil in Cuba! What else is next?

Why radio is dead

Why radio is dead.

I just read this afternoon of the demise of a grand old alternative rock station, WHFS in Washington. As it stands, almost nobody cares that it’s gone.

Why is that? Because, that once great alternative radio station eventually morphed into just another vehicle for the promotion of future sneaker commercial soundtracks. The same has happened in Colorado as well with KBCO and KTCL both becoming mere shells of their former selves. What has happened is that “alternative radio” has been taken and crushed by corporatism. It is all mindless crap that the stations are playing now. All formula, payola crap.

Think about this: people are switching to listen to Christian radio since they like the music better. Yes, Christian radio is now playing better music than the staid tired regurgitated crap that the corporate masters allow to be played on the airwaves.

You’d think that the decision makers at these media giants were all members of the Democratic National Committee they way they are afraid to take chances and be real. There ARE alternatives out there, great music that is fresh.

You won’t find it on your radio though (well ok, there are STILL some alternative radio stations out there. Radio1190 (http://www.radio1190.org/) here in Boulder is one, but AM sucks! At least they have a live feed.)

For new music check out

http://music.for-robots.com/

http://www.fluxblog.org/

and the links listed therein

Also

Check out podcaster or search the word podcast on google.

Please post your suggestions for netcasts, music blogs, podcasts, even radio.

Ken

Pandas are Bears

A mature Giant Panda

Just in case there was any confusion on this point, I thought I'd post this.

From Wikipedia

For many decades the precise taxonomic classification of the panda was under debate as both Giant Pandas and Red Pandas share characteristics of both bears and raccoons. However, genetic testing has revealed that Giant Pandas are true bears and part of the Ursidae family. Its closest bear relative is the Spectacled Bear of South America. Disagreement remains about whether or not Red Pandas belong in Ursidae or the raccoon family, Procyonidae.

Democracy For America

Dean's running: read it here

So what was it?

What was it that brought the tsunami victims into the forethought of Americans and others around the world? There are crises in Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, why did this disaster really provoke a response (one that surprised the media and the vacationer-in-chief) Any ideas?

Dean: "I'm Running"

That word -- 'values' -- has lately become a codeword for appeasement of the right-wing fringe. But when political calculations make us soften our opposition to bigotry, or sign on to policies that add to the burden of ordinary Americans, we have abandoned our true values.

Hating George Bush

Reconsidering that hate is just a poor choice of words: disgust is totally appropriate.
Let us also consider that Mr Bush fully qualifies as a tyrant: carrying the name of President of the United States says nothing about his behavior: it is simply tyranical.
(In case you don't know, the city of DC is being forced to pony up 11 million dollars for the presidential inauguration: here's hoping that there are many many who will "turn their backs" on the president as he passes.
Remember how sweet and full of good humor were Stalin, Hitlet, Pinochet, Idi Amin, Pot Pot... sure, these people define the limits, but they also make clear the principle for those who cannot comfortably distinguish right and wrong when couched as nuance. You remember nuance, yes? That's what the Democratic party was guily of: nuance.

meme of the day

Republicans Lose Wars

Hail to the Suite (washingtonpost.com)

"The week of the inauguration could easily be coined the week of the fabulously rich and famous. Several of Washington's luxury hotels have set their sights on the biggest of big spenders. Cue Robin Leach: 'Hey travelers, how would you like your own private jet service, butler-drawn baths and a 3,500-square-foot hotel suite? You'll be wearing the finest custom couture as you emerge at the inaugural ball in your chauffeur-driven limousine!'
The price range: $5,000-$200,500 for a four-night stay."

This shit does not belong in newpapers that are for people. These prices are obscene. A person could get shot in a place like this and I would not feel bad: they have no business being there.
Ethically, it is absolutely fair to rob these people. And it would be a blessing.
The only thing that sucks is that there are not carrying cash. So, I guess the only thing is to get the name and address. I mean, if they are willing to play 200K for a weekend of pleasure, what would they pay for the pleasure of having a family member returned to them? Not to mention the wonderful lesson in value they would get.

Framing the issue: Hiraba, NOT Jihad!

Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs: Hiraba versus Jihad
"The term hirabah refers to public terrorism in a war against society and civilization. In legal terminology it is defined as "spreading mischief in the land," but its precise meaning, as defined by Professor Khalid Abou el Fadl, is "killing by stealth and targeting a defenseless victim in a way intended to cause terror in society." This is the Islamic definition of terrorism. It is the very opposite of jihad."

Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge

From the "Places Not To Visit This Lifetime Department"

Of course, this guy could be making all this up.

It's a Girl

More later

For the second time

since 1877 an electoral college election is contested by a Senator. Check out how the WaPo.com covers it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/

2005 Caption Contest #1

A spending diet

Americans are addicts. They are addicted to one thing. Spending money.

Most people don’t even know they are addicted. But go a week without spending money. Plan out your meals, go to the grocery store on Sunday evening and buy everything for the meals that week. Then don’t spend another dime until the following Sunday evening. That means no trips to the mall, no little “I deserve a little break/treat/etc” pastry, no Starbucks. You can pay your bills (gasoline/transportation too) but pay for nothing else.

Now some people are saying, “Oh that’s easy.” Fine, try it out. If you can do it without a problem then you win and we can move on to the next step. But try it. You need to try this and you need to start this Sunday. If you have never gone on a spending diet, a spending vacation, then this coming week is the week to do it. Don’t worry when you find yourself midweek jonesing to spend. Just see it as a sign that this is going to require more attention. If you fall off the wagon, just get back on.

OK, How do you do that?

Down and Out in Discount America

This is a very good article. Even if you do not subscribe to some of the ideology it none-the-less paints a good picture of the situation. Let the Wal-Mart discussions ensue.

Wal-Mart knows its customers, and it knows how badly they need the discounts. Like Wal-Mart's workers, its customers are overwhelmingly female, and struggling to make ends meet.

The network is the computer

More users than ever use broadband connections at home these days. Though it will take time, these connections will do nothing but get faster. With companies figuring out seemingly every day how to cram more information down the same pipes, and new options like fixed wireless and fiber to the door becoming available, connectivity options for the average consumer are ever-expanding, and with them, the speeds available.
This spells the doom of the modern computer, and the modern operating system as we know it – and this is not a bad thing.
GMB: the revolution was stopped, dead in its tracks, during the Clinton administration, the superhighway was Gore-d, they cozied up to the telecoms, bandwidth choked and the internet bubble, which was a bet on bandwidth, popped, and all roads on the superhighway lead to nowhere. With lightning speed, it came almost to house, where it was delivered fresh and wet to your lawn by the bicycle propelled news boy.
Yep, Clinton. On the one hand, he got picked on. On the otherhand, he got cut way too much slack because he was picked on. Gore? shit, he had more weak spots than a badly patched innertube.
I should mention that Howard Dean wants to be the DNC chairman. They'll find somebody else, like Kerry, who can continue to loose, instead of Dean, the last kick ass Democrat standing

Creationist Museum in the Heartland: Yep. Kentucky.

Take yours kids.
Lots of Heartland shit. Is there no Headland? Brainland? Mindland?
Hmmm: Texas would be perfect for Dickland.

Ways to fix your life: Quit your job

I agree with the message here although I don't think the dilemma is as much
a personal need to "search for purpose" in life as it is a general dissatisfaction with the corporate culture of excessive wealth, mindless exploitation of resources, and indifference to humanity.

"Some people say" I should protest corporate greed and corruption by not shopping at Wal-Mart, but this is like the jaws of a shark - a new tooth springs up whenever one falls out. The people who work there would not be thankful if you put them out of work either. Besides, I love Wal-Mart. I will have more of an impact by simplifying so I don't need to work for a greedy corporation. RV here we come.

Americans for Growth Through Trade

These are the guys that are paying for those pictures of Bill Clinton and support free trade and write your congressman: its basically an arm of the Cato Institute (no friends of Clinton, but, if you want to catch a rabbit, hide and make sounds like a carrot)
Trade is that process that wipes away human organization and culture and substitutes product, production and money. These are basically modern day gypsies with no alliance to the land or the country or the people, economic bastards with obscure and doubtful lineage.
You are truly better off buying locally produced drugs.
Free trade is unsound scientifically and biologicallt, in addition to the false promise of economic benefit.
This is NOT free exchange of goods: it is free trade of the means of production, the manpower and the financial and natural resources of peoples and countries. It is the absentee landlord, the owner of the tenant farmers land replete with company store, the Pied Piper and the "Friends of Pinocchio".
You should do everything in your power to engage in localized commerce: let your own actions be your guide.