2024 Presidential Election

[steross]

I gave a talk at a professional conference in 2023. It was something I had agreed to do before becoming a VA employee. I wasn’t being paid for it, it was strictly voluntary. I still had to fill out a crap ton of Office of General Counsel paperwork proving that there wasn’t any conflict of interest. I also had to give a disclaimer at the beginning of the talk that though the topic was related to my work, I was not there in any capacity as a VA representative and that nothing I said should be construed as representing any VA position, and any opinions I gave were my own. And, again, the talk was entirely voluntary, I did not get paid a cent.

And these guys put their business colleagues and employees in cherry positions that could benefit their companies.

I cannot express in strong enough terms how much this pisses me off without getting the ban hammer.


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Yep. Similar to this:

 

[mugatu]

Not a fan of the guy and as someone who got out of the military as a major putting someone who's highest leadership role was major is pretty damn crazy. But, if there was a charge and he was cleared, then this is a non-story.

I'm not a fan of someone being in charge of the DOD lacking a lot of experience. He has no experience in the Pentagon or even a major command. As far as i can tell he also has no joint (multi-service experience) or significant experience with partner nations, and definitely no significant foreign affairs experience. No experience leading large numbers of personnel or developing/implementing policy, or even campaign level planning either tactical or logistical.

Those are my issues with him. I don't like the family stuff (common UCMJ violations due to the affairs) and fact that he was investigated for SA. But I agree, if he was cleared it's a non-issue and the lack of experience and being way over his head is my biggest cause for concern.

 

[RxCowboy]

-Get the food industry out of making our nutrition guidelines. Currently 95% of that committee have ties to the food industry. Which is why garbage like "fruity pebbles" is considered nutritious breakfast but steak and eggs less so.
-Ban pharmaceutical ads again.
-Move us away from the idea that all of our chronic illnesses (now with rate above 60%) are fixed with pharmaceuticals. Treating chronic illness is an amazing business plan for pharmaceuticals and that is where the shift in the industry has gone. But, most of these diseases are occurring because of our lifestyles. And, our lifestyles are occurring because of the foods we eat, where we focus our health care dollars, and all of the industries making oodles of money off of our chronic illness and lobbying to keep it that way.
-our academic centers are now contracting/being funded by industry. In the past, when looking at literature you would be weary if it was funded by Nabisco but feel comfortable if it came out of Stanford. Now, it comes out of Stanford based on funding by Nabisco.

Yep, the guy is way out there about a lot of things and I disagree with him. But, hidden in the zaniness, he is very right about how sick we are and how we are not going to fix it as things stand now.

Direct to consumer pharmaceutical ads are something that need to go away. The only thing they have ever been proven to do is increase costs. There is no evidence that DTC ads affect market share of pharmaceuticals or prescribing patterns of providers. Pharma does it because other pharma does it. We could reduce costs simply by eliminating most pharma advertising and DTC altogether.


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[DxCowboy]

-Get the food industry out of making our nutrition guidelines. Currently 95% of that committee have ties to the food industry. Which is why garbage like "fruity pebbles" is considered nutritious breakfast but steak and eggs less so.
-Ban pharmaceutical ads again.
-Move us away from the idea that all of our chronic illnesses (now with rate above 60%) are fixed with pharmaceuticals. Treating chronic illness is an amazing business plan for pharmaceuticals and that is where the shift in the industry has gone. But, most of these diseases are occurring because of our lifestyles. And, our lifestyles are occurring because of the foods we eat, where we focus our health care dollars, and all of the industries making oodles of money off of our chronic illness and lobbying to keep it that way.
-our academic centers are now contracting/being funded by industry. In the past, when looking at literature you would be weary if it was funded by Nabisco but feel comfortable if it came out of Stanford. Now, it comes out of Stanford based on funding by Nabisco.

Yep, the guy is way out there about a lot of things and I disagree with him. But, hidden in the zaniness, he is very right about how sick we are and how we are not going to fix it as things stand now.

Where do we get our snappy jingles from if you ban pharmaceutical ads???

 

[RxCowboy]

Tom Coburn. He was a good man and a true Republican who actually pushed for smaller government. I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that he would have been branded a RINO if he was still alive because he would never have bowed to Trump.

Markwayne "I promise I'll only run once, whoops just kidding been in the Senate for a decade now that I enjoy power" Mullin is the exact opposite. Mr. Big Government as long as it benefits me and my company. Huge Trump guy. Shocking.

Trump and Trumpians are NOT limited government conservatives. Trump is a former Democrat. He is attracting former Democrats like Musk, RFK Jr, and Gabbard. Trump has never met a government dollar he didn’t want to spend.


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[mugatu]

Direct to consumer pharmaceutical ads are something that need to go away. The only thing they have ever been proven to do is increase costs. There is no evidence that DTC ads affect market share of pharmaceuticals or prescribing patterns of providers. Pharma does it because other pharma does it. We could reduce costs simply by eliminating most pharma advertising and DTC altogether.


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But how am I supposed to know to ask my Dr to write me a prescription for a medication I dont even know what it's for.

 

[mugatu]

If we could get the high fructose corn syrup out of most everything we would be healthier.


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Reducing sweeteners and salts in general for packaged food would help immensely

 

[steross]

Where do we get our snappy jingles from if you ban pharmaceutical ads???

The heavy Jardiance lady singing about her A1C during all our crap football games about made me want to throw up.

 

[steross]

Tom Coburn. I had more respect for him than maybe any politician ever.

This may be our biggest point of agreement, ever. If we would have had a senate of 50 Coburns this country would be way better off.

 

[Duke Silver]

This may be our biggest point of agreement, ever. If we would have had a senate of 50 Coburns this country would be way better off.

He was an amazing person and hired amazing staff.

 

[TheMonkey]

This may be our biggest point of agreement, ever. If we would have had a senate of 50 Coburns this country would be way better off.

I was shocked by GGEP’s well-placed respect as well. Then I remembered even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[GOGETUMPOKE]

The heavy Jardiance lady singing about her A1C during all our crap football games about made me want to throw up.

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I believe “thick “ is the more politically correct term.