#199 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday November 18)
Good morning!
CORPORATIONS AT THE CLIMATE SUMMIT
If you think it’s going to be easy to implement collective international action to combat climate change, chew on this: More than 500 lobbyists linked to oil and gas companies attended the recent climate summit in Glasgow. This representation exceeds the total number of delegates of any single country. Brazil was the next most represented group, with 479 members of its delegation. Some of the official delegations themselves (notably Canada, Russia and Brazil) actually included fossil fuel lobbyists within their delegations.
MEDICAL CARE LOBBYISTS
But it’s not just international lobbyists to continue polluting the air that are so numerous. According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association’s Internal Medicine, four of the top seven industry lobbyists in Washington represent healthcare. They are The AMA, The American Hospital Association, PhRMA (the pharmaceutical lobbying organization), and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Millions are spent by hospital systems, insurance companies and others to fight competitive drug pricing, clearer billing practices, and more efficient payment systems.
JUST BECAUSE I LOVE WORDS
The adjective for metal is metallic
But not so for iron, which is…ironic
FINALLY
I don’t always pick up on the lyrics of popular songs. They were always playing too loud and the words were often swallowed by the vocalist. “Bad moon on the rise” for the first few times I heard it was “Bathroom on the right.” The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” was a catchy tune and always qualified as a favorite. As one listened, it became clear that it was about sex between a White man and a Black woman. Only recently, when the Stones voluntarily removed it from their playlist, did I bother reading the lyrics more carefully—and critically. It’s about a slaver having a sexual relationship with an enslaved woman. Good that it’s off their playlist now—and mine…
Have a good day,
Glenn
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