“The medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of the practice of medicine, but also in terms of teaching and research. The academic institutions of this country are allowing themselves to be the paid agents of the pharmaceutical industry. I think it’s disgraceful.” -- Arnold Seymour Relman (1923-2014), Harvard Professor of Medicine and Former Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine

“Big Pharma is engaged in the deliberate seduction of the medical profession, country by country, worldwide. It is spending a fortune on influencing, hiring and purchasing academic judgment to a point where, in a few years’ time, if Big Pharma continues unchecked on its present happy path, unbought medical opinion will be hard to find.”– John LeClarre, author of The Constant Gardener, that focused on the corrupt nature of the pharmaceutical industry.

As our world spirals deeper into an abyss from which it is becoming increasingly difficult to extricate ourselves, some very prominent activists have lamented the lack of human solidarity in the face of the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya. See ‘The Rohingya tragedy shows human solidarity is a lie’ and ‘Wrongs of rights activism around Rohingyas’.

While I share the genuine concern of the Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkol Karman and Burmese dissident and scholar Dr Maung Zarni, and have offered my own way forward for responding powerfully to the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya – see ‘A Nonviolent Strategy to Defeat Genocide’ – in my view the lack of solidarity they mention is utterly pervasive and readily evident in our lacklustre official and personal responses to the many ongoing crises in which humanity finds itself.

Brett R. Joseph, LL.M., Ph.D.today announced his decision to run in the Ohio 2018 mid-term election as the Green Party's candidate for Lieutenant Governor, joining on the ticket with Columbus attorney and social justice activist Constance Gadell-Newton, who announced her candidacy for Governor of Ohio in late May, 2017.  

Dr. Joseph (or Brett as he prefers to be called) is an organizational systems design consultant, attorney, community action researcher, and environmental educator.  He serves his native northeast Ohio as a sustainable agriculture program coordinator and permaculture instructor at the Lorain County Community College.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Twenty-five wristwatches totaling $1.24 million
have become painful tourniquets on the arm of Thailand's
coup-installed defense minister.
   The luxury timepieces are also threatening to derail Prime Minister
Prayuth Chan-ocha's chances of remaining in power after elections in
November or 2019.
   For the past six weeks Defense Minister Gen. Prawit Wongsuwon, who
is also deputy prime minister, has been targeted by media photographs
purportedly documenting the dates and venues when he has worn 25
different expensive watches in public.
   "I have friends, and my friends lent me those watches. They did not
buy them for me," a visibly irritated Mr. Prawit told reporters on
January 16.
   That explanation drew immediate demands by activists and others for
a public naming of people who lent watches to Mr. Prawit, plus serial
numbers and receipts proving the purchases.
   The escalating scandal over possible corruption is now impacting
upon the upcoming election to change the military regime into a
civilian-led government.

Constance Gadell-Newton, Esq., is a social justice activist, Attorney at Law and Guardian ad Litem for abused and neglected children in Columbus, Ohio.  She graduated from Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, has a B.A. from the Ohio State University in Philosophy and Women’s Studies, and a J.D. from the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law, where she studied International, Criminal, and Public Interest Law.     

Constance is committed to promoting the wellbeing of all Ohioans- no matter what happens in Washington, D.C.  Constance will stand up to keep families together in the face of recent changes in U.S. Immigration Policy. Constance wants to make sure that all Ohioans have their needs met for health care and education. She supports universal health care for all Ohioans and free public education from pre-school to college. Constance stands with workers in the fight for a living wage and wage equality for women and minorities.