Originally posted on June 26, 2009.
(Slightly edited.)
President Nixon declared war on cancer back in 1972.
He also declared a War on Drugs in 1969. Forty years later, the war on drugs has proven itself a huge job creation success. Imagine how many people would be sad to see it end… from the drug lords in Mexico and elsewhere, to all the high school dropouts who would rather sell crack than work at McDonald's, to all the people working for the DEA, to many of the stars in the TV show, "COPS."
Oh, and I almost forgot, what would happen to the local economies where American prisons are located if the drug war ever ended? Well, they would have to be closed, like unnecessary military bases. Local economies would face collapse. Their political representatives would work very hard to prevent it.
According to the popular way of thinking, an end to the drug war would be as big a disaster as the bankruptcy of GM. It would require a bailout. (new advertising campaign… "Say YES to drugs!") Along with the car Czar's "Cash for Clunkers," would be the drug Czar's "Cash for Dope," incentive.
As if it could get any worse. Well, what if the war on poverty, declared by President Johnson 45 years ago, ever faced the disaster of succeeding?
How many social workers would find themselves flipping hamburgers or driving cabs? (it would, of course, depend on whether they actually had any real skills.)
Don't lose hope in the power of government to create extra work for people (A.K.A.—"jobs.") Depending upon how you chose to interpret this article.
No matter how much better it gets, it always seems to get worse.
And of course, it has to get worse, otherwise politicians and anti-poverty activists might actually have to find real jobs.
I remember after 911 how I laughed when I heard Bush announce another government sponsored war, the "War on Terror." It wasn't a "Hey that's funny," type of laugh, it was more like a "here we go again," type of laugh. Another war with no exit strategy. Another job for the government to pretend it is doing. Another problem requiring massive hiring. Another "too big to fail," boondoggle. (Editor's note: 11 years later, we got COVID-19—another never-ending problem for politicians to pretend to solve.)
I think I heard recently that Obama has declared an end to the war on terrorism. I think that makes a lot of sense. But coming from him? Man, that just doesn't make any sense. How could he possibly be considering letting a good crisis go to waste?
Wait, oh, I almost forgot about climate change. Now, this is one hell of a good crisis for just about anyone who derives an income from government activity. You can invest in companies that supply the titanium components of windmills and get rich in no time.
Try to find out where Al Gore is putting his money. Copy him. You will profit nicely.
And perhaps sell short on new coal-fired power plants. (This is me pretending I actually understand some of this stock market stuff. Actually, don't bother, the smart guys have probably already done all the short selling. On the other hand, perhaps the coal companies, having an incentive to pay close attention, have already figured out a way to profit from the coming rape of the middle class.)
Infrastructure spending?
Invest in cement production.
So anyway… where was I? I know when I started writing this rant I had some kind of a theme or an idea…. but, shucks, there is no beer left. How can I go on now?
It's times like this I really wish there were an official war on alcoholism… maybe I could dial 911 and tell them to get a taxi to deliver another six-pack… to "save the jobs," of government funded addiction workers.
Oh, I remember. It was the statement of a new law. Uncle Block's Law of Political Inevitability. If the government declares war on something, bet that whatever that something is, it will never end.
To prove my point, let me ask, how likely is it that the climate change bill will actually prevent the earth's climate from changing?
Part 2 of 2:
ReplyDeleteSince the war on cancer began orthodox medicine hasn't progressed in their basic highly profitable therapies: it still uses primarily and almost exclusively highly toxic, deadly things like radiation, chemo, surgery, and drugs that have killed millions of people instead of the disease.
As long as the official "war on cancer" is a HUGE BUSINESS based on expensive TREATMENTS (INTERVENTIONS) of a disease instead of its PREVENTION, logically, they will never find a cure for cancer. The upcoming moonshot-war on cancer inventions, too, will include industry-profitable gene therapies of cancer treatment that are right in line with the erroneous working model of mechanistic reductionism of allopathic medicine. The lucrative game of the medical business is to endlessly "look for" a cure but not "find" a cure. Practically all resources in the phony 'war on cancer' are poured into treating cancer but almost none in the prevention of the disease. It's proof positive that big money and a total lack of ethics rule the official medical establishment.
It's just like with any bogus official "war" ('war on drugs', 'war on terrorism', etc) --- it's not about winning these wars but to primarily prolong them because behind any of these fraudulent "war" rackets of the criminal establishment is a Big Business, such as the massive cancer industry. The very profitable TREATMENT focus of conventional medicine, instead of a PREVENTION focus which these official medical quacks (or rather crooks) can hardly make any money off, is a major reason why today 1 of 2 men and 1 in 3 women can expect a cancer diagnosis at some point in their lifetimes yet that rate was multiple times lower 5 decades ago when the phony 'war on cancer' began (1 in about 16). And 5 decades ago when this bogus war began cancer was the second leading cause of death and 50 years later it is STILL the second leading cause of death in the country this "war" was declared in. These facts alone prove we are NOT winning the war on cancer.
At the same time, this same orthodox cancer cartel has been suppressing and squashing a number of very effective and beneficial alternative cancer approaches. You probably guessed why: effective, safe, inexpensive cancer therapies are cutting into the astronomical profits of the medical mafia's lucrative treatments. That longstanding decadent activity is part of the fraud of the war on cancer.
What the medical establishment "informs" the public about is about as truthful as what the political establishment keeps telling them. Not to forget, the corporate media (the mainstream fake news media) is a willing tool to spread these distortions, lies, and the scam of the war on cancer.
Does anyone really think it's a coincidence that double Nobel laureate Linus Pauling called the 'war on cancer' a fraud? If anyone looks closer they'll come to the same conclusion. But...politics and self-serving interests of the conventional medical cartel, and their allied corporate media, keep the real truth far away from the public at large. Or people's own denial or indifference of the real truth.