Obama to name Sunstein his regulatory czar

President-elect Barack Obama has tapped legal scholar Cass Sunstein as his administration's regulatory czar, a Democratic source said Friday.

Obama hired the Harvard law professor to run the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the administration's central approver of rules that has say over environmental policy, workplace safety issues and federal health care policies. All major agencies' rules will pass across Sunstein's desk, giving him great influence in the new administration.

His appointment was disclosed by a Democratic source who spoke on the condition of anonymnity to discuss personnel decisions.

Sunstein's office would be the main place Obama's new administration would look to reverse executive orders issued by President George W. Bush, who leaves office Tuesday. Obama aides and advisers have their eyes on Bush's policies on stem cell research and reproductive rights, but advisers have combed Bush's record and found more than 200 rules they would like to see reversed.

Independent and advocacy groups have been lobbying Obama aides aggressively to move quickly on the policies, perhaps as early as his first full day in office, Jan. 21.

Sunstein could be the face of that effort. He's a much-quoted expert on regulation and has testified about Supreme Court nominees; Harvard touted him as the most cited law professor in the country when officials hired him last year.

Harvard Law Dean Elena Kagan — who is set to become Obama's solicitor general — called him the "pre-eminent legal scholar of our time" and an "individual superstar" in her February 2008 announcement that he would join the faculty. Aside from a short stint at the Justice Department, he has never worked in government.

Sunstein previously taught at the University of Chicago, where Obama also taught law part time.

He is married to Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign policy adviser who was forced to resign from the campaign when she called Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was then an Obama rival, "a monster." Power has since rejoined Obama's circle, helping his transition team assess the State Department that Clinton would lead as secretary.

Sunstein earned two degrees from Harvard and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. He also advised constitution writers in Poland, South Africa and Russia.

Obama Cabinet

"Good Morning America" news anchor Chris Cuomo conducted a surprisingly tough interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, grilling her on the lack of accountability for how 2008's financial bailout money has been spent. He told the powerful Democrat, "...I think there are a few issues that unite Americans like this. Don't waste our money, especially right now."
[NewsBusters.org]

Regarding the news that Congress doesn't know how much of the $350 billion T.A.R.P has been spent, Cuomo challenged, "Why didn't savvy lawmakers like yourself, like Barney Frank, say, 'We're not going to just release this money with no strings. We'll build it in the law. We'll build in accountability?' Why didn't you do that?"

When the Speaker of the House attempted to pass blame off to President Bush, the ABC journalist retorted, "Are you saying that you can promise the American people, that going forward, with your president and your party, things will be different? That they will know where the money is?" During a discussion of the possible distribution of the second $350 billion funds, Pelosi again blamed Bush. Regarding that money, Cuomo proclaimed, "I guess the way to say it, this will be on Obama's account. Not on Bush's account, how this money is spent."

After Cuomo called for no more pointing at the administration and saying, "Well, they screwed up T.A.R.P.," a unrepentant Pelosi attacked back, "Well, they did. But they did." The GMA news anchor closed out the discussion by again instructing, "Now, it's you. It really is you by any other definition."

Cuomo did offer some softball questions for the liberal congresswoman. On the topic of a children's health care program, he blandly wondered, "With everything that's going on, this is a very important first step for you. You want this high on the agenda. Why?" The network host followed up with the equally uninteresting query: "So, what is the message that you're hoping to send by bringing this up early? And I guess, with your hopes, getting passage, with a President Obama?" But, overall, Cuomo should be commended for pressing the House Speaker on accountability.

A transcript of the January 14 segment, which aired at 7:15, follows:

CHRIS CUOMO: We have an exclusive interview for you this morning, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. About to enter a new era with a Democrat in the White House. The big issue, of course, is the economy and the problem the government has had managing the use of your tax dollars. What went wrong with the first $350 billion? What will be different going forward? That's where we started with the speaker in her Capitol Hill office. Why didn't savvy lawmakers like yourself, like Barney Frank, say, 'We're not going to just release this money with no strings. We'll build it in the law. We'll build in accountability?' Why didn't you do that?

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: Well, we did build it in, by having an oversight committee and an inspector general. But that- the next thing we could do was to go down to Pennsylvania Avenue with a set of handcuffs and say to them you're no longer allowed to enforce this law because you're not doing it right. Instead, we had an election. And we changed the country. And now we have a new president.

CUOMO: But, Congress passed the law.

PELOSI: Right. We passed the law. The President-

CUOMO: You could have put in the conditions. There were other things in there.

PELOSI: We did put in the conditions. We did put in conditions.

CUOMO: But now you know in retrospect they aren't enough, right?

PELOSI: Well, you don't expect somebody to give somebody tens of billions of dollars and say, don't tell me how you're going to spend it. There was a purpose for the money, but they did not insist upon it.

CUOMO: I mean, I think there are a few issues that unite Americans like this. Don't waste our money, especially right now. And a situation you all have to deal with the new president is, you have Citibank, Morgan Stanley thinking about merging. It just gets slipped out in the news that they're reserving $2 to $3 billion, for retention payments. We both know that word means one thing. Bonuses.

PELOSI: Bonuses. Well, let me say this: There's nobody more disappointed than how the Bush administration executed the T.A.R.P. law, than the members of Congress who sent the bill to them. And so, yes. When people see bonuses under any name, whatever they want to call them, they're fighting words for the members.

CUOMO: Haven't heard anybody complaining about the Citigroup/Morgan Stanley, $3 billion in retention payments. Barney Frank, he's no shrinking violet. Haven't heard him come out about this. You know, where's the outrage?

PELOSI: Well, the- You talk anecdotally about one thing or another. There's tremendous outrage about CEO compensation in general.

CUOMO: Are you saying that you can promise the American people, that going forward, with your president and your party, things will be different? That they will know where the money is?

PELOSI: Things will be different because we will have a president who will enforce the law. And, again, with the light of transparency that will be built into any new- if there is to be anymore T.A.R.P. funding.

CUOMO: Well, he's asking for $350 billion.

PELOSI: President Bush has sent over the request. He sent it over yesterday.

CUOMO: For Obama. It's not that it's being asked for by Bush. He wants it. He asked for it.

PELOSI: No, no. The official request has been made by President Bush.

CUOMO: Because he's the president.

PELOSI: That's right.

CUOMO: But, he's asking for it because President-elect Obama wants it.

PELOSI: Well, he's asking for it because he wants President Obama to be identified with it. But we're comfortable with that because President Obama will enforced the law in a completely different way.

CUOMO: This money- I guess the way to say it, this will be on Obama's account. Not on Bush's account, how this money is spent.

PELOSI: Absolutely.

CUOMO: And the responsibility is on the Democrats, because there will be no more just pointing at the administration and saying, 'Well, they screwed up T.A.R.P.' 'Well, they got us in this mess.'

PELOSI: Well, they did. But they did.

CUOMO: Now, it's you. It really is you by any other definition.

PELOSI: And you will see a difference.

CUOMO: Pelosi could not be more confident about better days to come under President-elect Obama, an administration whose first legislative achievement won't deal with the economy, but health care. A program the speaker and President Bush were at odds over. This state child health insurance program. With everything that's going on, this is a very important first step for you. You want this high on the agenda. Why?

PELOSI: Over 11 million children will have access to health care cause of this legislation. In the previous administration, President Bush said we couldn't afford it. It would cost 40 days in Iraq to insure over 10 million children for one year. Certainly, we can afford it.

CUOMO: So, what is the message that you're hoping to send by bringing this up early? And I guess, with your hopes, getting passage, with a President Obama?

PELOSI: Well, that a new day has dawned. President Bush objected. President Obama supports it. And supports providing health care for our children. It's a shared value that we have in a bipartisan way in the Congress. And now, with the president of the United States.

CUOMO: Thank you very much for taking the time to do the interview.

PELOSI: My pleasure.

CUOMO: Appreciate the opportunity.

We're Too Damned Fat, America!

Last Spring I wrote an article on America's weight problem, a short piece based mostly on my personal views and observations. Since then I have been reading more on the dilemma and have become a more avid 'weight watcher'. (No, not my own as I still need to lose some excess pounds to reach my optimum weight.) I have been watching other people a little more closely - making mental notes of what I see - and have been appalled at what I observe in my everyday travels about town. Fat people galore! - especially young people who should never be in that condition.

By young people I mean those between the ages of 15 to 35 years old. From this group the majority of future health problems - and costs - are going to leap upon us as a society. These are the people who should now be targeted for changing their lifestyles to eliminate the causes of being overweight. These are the individuals most moldable now whose behaviors can be modified more easily than older fatties before irreversible harm has been done to their bodies.

While it may not be politically correct to ridicule overweight people, the time has come to fully and publicly recognize the extent of the problem of Americans being overweight. It is apparent that we have reached a near epidemic of fatness and obesity in our society. While this may be an appearance detractor, played to by television advertising for any number of weight reduction gimmicks, more importantly it is a health problem creeping up on us and is going to be pandemic in our country with costly consequences.

How bad is the problem? Very bad according to the Centers for Disease Control and other government agencies and medical organizations monitoring the situation. Factually, more than 65% of adult Americans are currently overweight. More than 20% of our children are similarly affected by this condition. More than one third of adult Americans go beyond being overweight - they are considered obese, fat to the extent it is extreme. This equates to more than 70 million potential health problems which will significantly impact the health care system of the United States in the not so distant future. This is not a problem to ignore as it is predicted by medical experts to be much worse in the near term. By 2015 - a mere six years from now - the percent of adult Americans considered overweight will approach 75% and obesity will increase to over 40%. Alarming, isn't it?

Obesity kills! The incidences of Type 2 diabetes are growing at an alarming rate, more than doubling over the past 30 years in consonance with increasing levels of obesity. Heart disease is similarly on the increase as are a number of other ailments related to being overweight. Studies and reports can be easily found in numerous government and medical publications, but they don't seem to attract the attention of anyone other than medical experts. They certainly haven't swayed the general public if the fat statistics are to be believed. We get fatter as a nation by the year.

Yet, little is being done to correct the situation and change lifestyles of Americans, especially our youth. The government and medical organizations have published reports on the problem repeatedly. Who reads government reports? Not many of us - particularly not our fast food chomping youth who have been raised on high calorie meals of cheeseburgers and french fries, tacos and lard laden burritos, and other fast food fat producing short cuts to a healthy diet. Our American youngsters have been 'supersized' by the fast food industry - and negligent parents - to the extent they are now to an alarming degree overweight, unfit, and, in a significantly increasing number, obese.

Our society - particularly our youth - has become increasingly sedimentary forsaking real exercise for television reality shows and spectator sports - watching rather than doing - and playing computer action games rather than getting outdoors and becoming involved with bona fide action games as in playing rigorously. The lack of any actually strenuous daily activities involving working up a little sweat is causing this problem. (That and our poor choices of food in our diets.) Americans, I fear, have become lazy when it comes to getting enough exercise to ward off becoming overweight.

The simple fact that even a daily brisk walk of about three miles would be highly beneficial if combined with a reduction in calories by eating less fast food. Playing PlayStation for hours on end has no benefit at all in ridding ourselves of excess fat. Neither does hours of couch - sitting while watching the twaddle on television that has become our entertainment.

As Americans, we basically consume too much fat in our daily diet and get too little exercise. The problem is as simple as that - easily curable and reversed. But not without some education, effort, and headship by our leaders.

In a recent column, Morton Kondracke (Roll Call) called upon President - elect Barack Obama to make this a priority early in his administration, to declare a war on obesity, and to encourage Americans to join him in slimming the country down. Kondracke points out that Barack is one who Americans would follow in the battle to eat better, exercise more, and loose the fat now dragging us all into a health crisis. Morton states "…Obama is singularly positioned to lead the charge against excess flab: he's lean, he exercises, and he can set a great example for getting the nation fit again."

The new President certainly has enough wars to deal with. But a new war - on obesity -can be easily engaged, promoted, and won. We just need someone like Barack - and perhaps other influential leaders in the sports field - to declare it an immediately necessary ongoing battle and encourage the general populace, especially young people, to join the ranks of all Americans in the fight to rid ourselves of this burdensome and dangerous health concern. The young are enthusiastic over the election of Barack and will undoubtedly follow his marching orders to get up off the couch, drop that cheeseburger, and get fit. (President Kennedy encouraged youth fitness as important to our society as have other Presidents. None have had the success Barack would have as an example of an active and fit adult.)

That is an excellent possible solution to an imminent, though silent, disaster looming on our horizon. It would not be costly, it would not take an excess effort, and it would be effective and nearly immediate in its taking hold. If Barack simply stated in his first speeches on health care that we can all help solve the problem by diet and exercise, people would understand and get on board. We all know through observing those around us and looking in the mirror that most of us need to shed a few pounds and we all know we need to get involved in a more active lifestyle. We recognize that we spend too much time on the couch and not enough time outdoors. Barack could prompt us to change. After all, he damned the status quo of the health care system and promised change when campaigning. This type of change would be, most likely, the easiest thing to do in his administration. And, one to produce credible, effective, and long lasting benefits.

Parents can neither escape criticism for this growing problem nor can they shrink from their own responsibility in solving it. Parents promote the inevitable fatness of their children by condoning calorie laden fast foods, sodas, and other unhealthy choices. They allow sedentary behavior. In fact, they set the example many times with their own. An active parent is almost always an example for encouraging a child to follow suit. As a parent, get your kids up off their chairs, out from behind those computer screens, away from the malls and fast food shops, and instead get them active in action playing requiring physical exertion. Do your part.

As I stated at the beginning, I am an avid weight watcher. And I don't like who I see walking around the shopping centers gobbling a fatty snack from a fast food purveyor while quaffing a supersized cola of some sort. Fat people galore! Young fat people which is most disturbing. Yes, we're too damned fat, America, and we need to do something about it! Now!

What Changes Does Obama Need to Make in the FDA?

Obama promised to focus on food safety, but the real problems are much more insidious and dangerous than salmonella ever was.

Recent articles and editorials have popped up all over the place about the changes Obama might make in the FDA. Obama said he plans to focus on food safety. In light of the recent salmonella outbreaks, that obviously needs attention. But the real damage to Americans isn't caused by this type of unusual situation; it's the day-to-day practices of the FDA and Big Pharma that are killing Americans and ruining their lives.

What are these destructive day-to-day practices? To name just a few:

Direct to consumer advertising

There's a reason why this is outlawed in other countries. People see ads on TV about a drug. The ads depict people who are obviously not happy, for example, and suggest we ask our doctor about the drug they're advertising. Which we do, in droves. The doctor, whose info on the drug comes primarily from the drug company whose chief interest is money, prescribes it. The diagnosis was done by the patient, as guided by drug company.

Off-label marketing and prescribing

The FDA approves a drug based on testing done under specific conditions on a specific ailment. And the drug company is not allowed to market the drug for anything else. But they do. They don't do big TV ad campaigns about using the drug for other than the approved ailment - that's too easy to get busted for because it's so visible - but they do promote directly to medical professionals who then prescribe them to their patients. Is it safe to use a drug for something other than which it was tested and approved? Absolutely not.

Big Pharma withholding information from the FDA

When a drug is submitted to the FDA for approval, the drug manufacturer's test results are included. But not all of them. The studies that got favorable results are submitted, those that show the drug to be dangerous or ineffective are not. Consequently, FDA approval is based on skewed data.

Many of the drugs don't really work, and they are dangerous

As an example, two out of three people who take antidepressants are still depressed - according to a recent TV ad. The ad suggests that, if you are one of those people, you should take another drug (called Abilify) on top of your regular antidepressant.

The side effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, urinary retention, blurred vision, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, sedation, sleep disruption, weight gain, headache, inability to achieve an erection, inability to achieve an orgasm (men and women), loss of libido, agitation, and anxiety. Some are also lethal when combined with other drugs. And they cause suicidal thoughts and make a person want to hurt themselves.

If taking these drugs does not relieve our depression, we're supposed to keep taking them - how ridiculous does that sound? - and add another one - Abilify.

The side effects of Abilify include most of the above, and:

 Very high fever, rigid muscles, shaking; confusion, sweating, or increased heart rate and blood pressure - which, according to the drug's manufacturer, could be fatal;

 abnormal or uncontrollable movements which, again, according to the manufacturer, could be permanent;

 diabetes or an increase in blood sugar levels which, in some cases, have resulted in coma or death;

 impaired judgment, thinking, or motor skills;

 an inability to lower the body's temperature, so you have to make sure you don't overheat or get dehydrated.

How many people are sick because of the drugs they're taking? And they don't even work.

The Systematic Stripping of FDA Funding, Personnel and Power

Are all of these problems the fault of the FDA? Not by a long shot. Big Pharma has successfully lobbied for decades to strip the FDA of its funding, personnel and power. The FDA now serves Big Pharma.

With this mission accomplished, Big Pharma is now pushing to make it illegal for a State to try a case against a drug company. Settling lawsuits costs drug companies millions every year as more and more people suffer from everything from prescription drug addiction to liver disease to death. How do they think they can get away with this? They argue that Federal authority preempts that of the State, and the drug was approved by the FDA, a Federal entity. A cunning and insidious plan that absolves Big Pharma of all wrong-doing and leaves the public they've victimized to deal with the problems on their own.

These are the problems Obama should resolve. Let's hope he's well-informed and can take the Big Pharma giant down before we have an entire nation of drugged zombies and no one to be held accountable.

barack obama website

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Financial Self-Assessment Questions

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