Does Bowel Prep Before Colonoscopy Put Kidney at Risk?

Tags: Colonoscopy Risk Kidney from Use of Oral Sodium Phosphate? 1.4% Risk, Age Related

Any medical procedure involves risk with surgery being one percent risk of death, mostly from anesthesia. Even patients who have normal kidney function are susceptible to oral sodium phosphate damage. Family incidence of colon cancer, your diet over a significant amount of years, and check of your vitals are necessary before deciding whether to take the test or not.

Whether I take my third test will depend on whether there is a safer alternative means to efficiently clean out my intestines for the test.

My guess is that your kidneys health should be checked with a calculated efficiency of the kidneys with a blood test of critical indicators such as creatinine. I recommend a Comprehensive Blood Test and a Metabolic Comprehensive Test. A check for uric acid, blood lipids, vitamin D (Ideally at least 50 nanograms/ml well above the usual 30 before the introduction of UVB sunscreens which stop your skin from producing vitamin D from UVB. 15-30 minutes exposure a few times a week during the summer and fall may be adequate as determined by your concentration of 25-hydroxy-vitamin D.

Family colon cancer history, diet, and other health considerations need to be considered.

Good Luck!

jim kawakami, July 6, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

From Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology

Is Bowel Preparation Before Colonoscopy a Risky Business for The Kidney?

Yeong-Hau H. Lien, MD http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/580522 Nov 2008

1. Summary and Introduction

1. Patterns of Acute Kidney Injury Induced by Oral Sodium Phosphate
2. Acute Phosphate Nephropathy After Standard Dose of Oral Sodium Phosphate
3. Incidence of and Risk Factors For Acute Phosphate Nephropathy
4. Electrolyte Abnormalities After Use of Oral Sodium Phosphate
5. Pathogenesis of Acute Phosphate Nephropathy
6. Recommendations to Minimize the Renal Risks of Oral Sodium Phosphate
7. Conclusions
8. Key Points

1. References

Summary and Introduction

Summary

Acute phosphate nephropathy after bowel preparation with oral sodium phosphate (OSP) for colonoscopy has emerged as an important clinical entity. In 2004, five cases of nephrocalcinosis and irreversible renal failure after bowel preparation with OSP were reported. More recently, several retrospective studies have shown that the incidence of acute kidney injury after OSP use is in the range of 1-4%, similar to the incidence of contrast nephropathy in the general population. The degree of renal failure is not generally as severe as in the first reported cases, but irreversible damage can still occur.

Millions of people worldwide undergo screening colonoscopies for colon and rectal cancer after the age of 50, so careful patient selection and monitoring for possible complications is essential when OSP is used. In addition to educating patients about the possibility of renal damage, physicians should routinely watch for considerable weight loss during bowel preparation and correct the fluid deficit as needed. Carrying out a renal function panel, which includes serum phosphorus level, is prudent after colonoscopy. Alternative bowel cleansing agents are needed because calcium phosphate precipitation is inevitable after OSP use even in the normal kidney.

Introduction

Routine screening for colon and rectal cancer after the age of 50 by use of colonoscopy has been one of the most successful public health projects worldwide. As a result of improvements in colonoscopy technology, bowel preparation is now the least tolerable part of the procedure, so gastroenterologists have been searching for more tolerable, efficient, and economic ways to cleanse the bowel.

At present, oral sodium phosphate (OSP) solution is favored.[1] The initially reported adverse effects of this agent were unremarkable, particularly in patients with normal kidney and gastrointestinal function.[2] However, the attractive safety profile of OSP has been questioned recently following a series of cases of OSP-induced acute and irreversible renal failure.[3]

This disease has been named acute phosphate nephropathy (APN)[3,4] because renal biopsy uniformly revealed nephrocalcinosis. These and subsequently reported cases of APN[5,6] raised such concern that the FDA issued a warning about the use of OSP in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or major cardiovascular comorbidities.

Several retrospective studies have been performed in order to facilitate a better understanding of APN. Unfortunately, the results of these studies are quite differing, adding to the controversy over the safety of OSP. This uncertainty about the toxicity of OSP clearly increases the anxiety of those who are scheduled to undergo elective colonoscopy and their physicians, and the lack of clear instructions regarding the use of OSP for bowel preparation further increases the level of uneasiness. The purpose of this Review is to provide a nephrologist’s perspective on the pathogenesis, risk factors, and prevention of APN, based on the current literature.

Patterns of Acute Kidney Injury Induced by Oral Sodium Phosphate

Two patterns of OSP-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) can be distinguished: early symptomatic, and late insidious ( Table 1 ).[5] The former presents as an acute illness that manifests as changes in mental status, tetany, or cardiovascular collapse, usually within hours of bowel preparation. Patients have marked hyperphosphatemia (4.5-19.4 mmol/l) and hypocalcemia (1.0-1.7 mmol/l) and require urgent fluid resuscitation, rapid correction of electrolyte abnormalities, and even hemodialysis.

Outcomes vary—some patients show excellent recovery of renal function, while others develop CKD or die soon after the onset of symptoms. The second pattern of AKI is insidious onset of renal failure days or months after colonoscopy.[3] At the time of diagnosis, serum phosphorus and calcium levels are normal or near normal unless APN is detected within 3 days of bowel preparation.[7]

None of these patients recover their renal function completely and some even progress to end-stage renal disease. The major difference in bowel preparation between these two groups of patients is that those with early symptomatic AKI received a much higher phosphate load than the standard dose.[2,5,8] Their symptoms are mainly related to hypocalcemia, and, if managed promptly and aggressively, recovery of renal function is possible. In patients whose presentation is insidious, the opportunity to remove renal calcium phosphate precipitates is often missed, and CKD develops. ... http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/580522

Layoffs in California Hit Poor Performance Schools Hard Teacher of the Year in Marin County California Quits

Tags: Layoffs California Teachers Least Experience Why Teachers' Quit

Teacher of the Year in Marin County California Quits, SF Gate, April 26, 2007, Nanette Asimov http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/06/2870536/california-teacher-layoffs-hit.html

… Kadhir Raja, an algebra teacher at Grant High School in Del Paso Heights, saw it firsthand.

One-quarter of the teachers at his school were laid off in May. Raja, 28, has a doctorate in education, has written a book on teaching, is an instructional coach at Grant and was the district's teacher of the year in 2009. Yet he, too, received a layoff notice that was later revoked.

"It's horrible," he said, adding that some of the most passionate teachers at Grant have been cut. "The system should be based on performance."

The situation has caught the attention of Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. He has introduced Senate Bill 1285, which would prohibit districts from laying off teachers at low-performing schools at a higher rate then the district average. Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/06/2870536/california-teacher-layoffs-hit.html#ixzz0swMwaa8j

Layoffs in California Hit Poor Performance Schools Hard Sacramento Bee, Diana Lambert and Phillip Reese, July 6, 2010 … Teachers who stayed reported they felt strongly supported at their schools, not only by administrators, but by colleagues.

The survey found that many teachers quit because there was too little planning time, too much paperwork, unreliable assistance from the school district, and a general lack of support.

More than half of the ex-teachers surveyed said they had quit because they were dissatisfied with the pay or the conditions at their school.

One was Lammers, a resident of San Anselmo and Marin County's Teacher of the Year in 1999.

"Marin's a sweet place to teach, so I don't mean to be a moaner and groaner," he said.

But even in well-to-do Marin County, he said, children have tremendous needs that aren't always addressed at home.

"More and more children came without family support. Teachers are required to do many things in a limited period of time. It is simply not possible to be expert in all subjects, given such limited time. I rarely got a day off. I worked during weekends and summer vacations. This exhausted me. I always felt that our kids needed more time," he said.

Lammers called the issue of teacher retention "a major problem around the country."

Sherry Jacobs understands what happens when teachers lack the support they need.

Jacobs, who teaches students with emotional and cognitive disabilities, worked for a year once at a school where the principal refused to bring in a psychologist to help with a troubled boy.

"She didn't want anyone from the outside coming into the school," Jacobs recalled.

Jacobs went over the principal's head, but it was too late. The day the specialist finally arrived, the boy became violent, and he and Jacobs both suffered burns.

"It wasn't the student's fault," she said. "It was the lack of support."

She left that school -- but not the profession.

Today Jacobs is one of the rarest -- and most sought after -- kinds of teachers in the state: an experienced special education instructor who is willing to work in a high-poverty school.

She works at Franklin Elementary School in Oakland under Principal Jeannette MacDonald.

"I've had great support from the principal, from the office, and from the teachers," said Jacobs, who was among the satisfied teachers in the survey.

It means that if Jacobs needs to visit a family during the day, or pick up a parent who can't find transportation to a school meeting, "the principal will find someone to help cover my classroom so I can go do that.

"There's a trust there. They look at me as a professional, and it really makes or breaks whether you stay." Teacher study highlights

Here are the six recommendations included in the study "A Possible Dream: Retaining California Teachers So All Students Can Learn":

1. School administrators should continuously assess teaching conditions.

2. California should increase education funding to at least adequate levels.

3. Introduce administrative policies that support teachers' instructional needs.

4. Principals should focus on "high-quality teaching and learning conditions."

5. The state should establish standards for teaching and learning conditions.

6. Administrators should address specific challenges in retaining special education teachers.

The full report is at: www.calstate.edu/teacherquality/retention/

Source: "A Possible Dream: Retaining California Teachers So All Students Can Learn" E-mail the writers at nasimov@sfchronicle.com and aemam@sfchronicle.com.

Computerized Hospitals and Doctors Records Lower Drug and Treatment Errors Lower Cost Lawsuits Patients Benefit

Tags: Computerized Hospitals and Doctors Records Lower Drug and Treatment Errors Lower Cost Lawsuits Patients Benefit, Overtreated Medicare, Portable Records for Patients

Over 100,000 patients in hospitals die each year from mistakes in medication or procedures in hospitals even in the best hospitals as I have experienced. Medication errors went to zero at the Veteran’s Hospital when Hilary and Bill Clinton implemented it based on the Dartmouth University long term study of Medicare patients which is still ongoing.

Shannon Brownlee, a 30 year medical journalists, wrote the book Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer. It is based largely from both her own investigations and the Dartmouth study which examined millions of Medicare patient records to determine the outcome of patients with similar illnesses and health. The doctor working at John Hopkins, one of the best in the country, discovered too many mistakes resulting in patient deaths occurring at a hospital with the best doctors. He wanted to find out why.

In the younger population he found such juicy data as the number of hysterectomies conducted be doctors depended on the number of doctors rather than the real need to conduct this life altering operation on young women. He found the same occurred in many specialties.

The cost to Medicare varies considerably in McAllen, Texas which is highest in the nation. Surprisingly the senior population there on Medicare is among the healthiest in the nation even though poor. Their poverty forced them to eat beans. A similar demographic nearby city of El Paso has half the cost per Medicare patients with comparable results.

Unfortunately among the poor now, this has been replaced with Fast Food with a large amount of heavily subsidized cheap High Fructose Corn Syrup, a sugar that keeps us hungry so we eat more in contrast to regular cane sugar as noted in previous blogs.

Jim Kawakami, July 6, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Computerized Medical Records Eliminates Mistakes in Medications and Treatments as Seen in the Veterans Administration Setup by the Clinton’s, Fred Tasker, Miami Herald, July 6, 2010, You're a South Florida resident on vacation in Boise or Bogota. You suffer stomach pains and visit a local doctor. You whip out your BlackBerry, punch in your access code and show the doctor a list of your medications, allergies, past illnesses, tests, surgeries and advice from your physician back home.

Electronic medical records, or EMRs, are quickly becoming a reality for doctors and hospitals in South Florida and beyond.

If EMRs work, they'll be high-tech marvels — letting patients access their own medical records on their home computers, helping doctors coordinate tests with each other to avoid duplication, giving medical researchers access to millions of medical records.

Nearly every major South Florida hospital and many doctors are joining a push by the Obama administration to spend $19.2 billion in federal stimulus money to help create a national EMR system by 2014. … http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/06/97036/online-medical-records-raise-privacy.html Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/06/97036/online-medical-records-raise-privacy.html#ixzz0sw4tC9Qs

Climate Change Gases Fundamental and Irreversible Ecology of Oceans and Sea Life Increase temp acidity oxygen levels food chain major currents

Tags: Climate Change Alters Oceans Well Beyond Popular Conceptions Including Temperature, acidity, oxygen levels, food chain killing Plankton, even direction of flow of major currents, distinct alteration of weather with just small temperature change.

Shells of crabs, lobsters, clams, among many are already dissolving due to increased acidity, Plankton depletion have already disrupted the food chain even up to some whales where fish have to migrate to obtain food.

Ironically the important Gulf Stream to warm the East Coast and Europe is already starting to slow because the warmer currents with lower density does not sink when it reaches the Northern Atlantic which will eventually stop this warm current and cause a cold Europe. Already the current for Europe has slowed by 30 percent which has not been publicized.

So we have a combination of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere making it warmer in summer and colder in the winter. I suspect that the Northeast USA will be colder this winter, a change from previous winters. Take the time to make your home more efficient including getting a generator in case the electricity goes out do to a much larger use of natural gas, the primary heating fuel used in the Northeast. That is the real reason for the blackout in the Northeast a few years ago. Lack of gas pipeline capacity for the sharp increase in use of electronic products.

Jim Kawakami, July 5, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/04/96966/report-oceans-deteriorating-health.html WASHINGTON — A sobering new report warns that the oceans face a "fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation" not seen in millions of years as greenhouse gases and climate change already have affected temperature, acidity, and oxygen levels, the food chain and possibly major currents that could alter global weather.

The report, in Science magazine, (premier weekly of new science findings) brings together dozens of studies that collectively paint a dismal picture of deteriorating ocean health.

"This is further evidence we are well on our way to the next great extinction event," said Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia and a co-author of the report. ...

• Nutrient-poor "ocean deserts" in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans grew by 15 percent, or roughly 2.5 million square miles, from 1998 to 2006.

• Oxygen concentrations have been dropping off the Northwest U.S. coast and the coast of southern Africa, where dead zones are appearing regularly. There is paleontological evidence that declining oxygen levels in the oceans played a major role in at least four or five mass extinctions.

• Since the early 1980s, the production of phytoplankton, a crucial creature at the lower end of the food chain, has declined 6 percent, with 70 percent of the decline found in the northern parts of the oceans. Scientists also have found that phytoplankton are becoming smaller. ...

One of the consequences could be a disruption of major ocean currents, particularly those flowing north and south, circulating warm water from the equator to polar regions and cold water from the poles back to the equator. Higher temperatures in polar regions and a decrease in the salinity of surface water due to melting ice sheets could interrupt such circulation, the report says.

The change in currents could further affect such climate phenomena as the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation. Scientists just now are starting to understand how these phenomena affect global weather patterns. ...

There's growing concern about low-oxygen or no-oxygen zones appearing more and more regularly off the Northwest coast, Mantua said. Scientists are studying the California Current along the West Coast to determine whether it could be affected, he added.

(Deeper water currents travel to the Northwest coast from Southeast Asia is more depleted of oxygen because the warm oxygen rich surface waters do not sink. After months, the cooler Oregon waters, for example, provide oxygen and sea life gradually begins to thrive. Jim)

Richard Feely, a senior scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, said the report in Science seemed so direct because one of the authors was Australian. ...

(Australians were the first scientists to realize that the heavy use of UVB sunscreens actually led to a sharp increase in melanoma skin cancer. UVA, the major component of sun radiation, is not stopped by UVB sunscreens and alters the DNA of the Melanin precursor below the outer skin. UVB stoppage also stops our production of vitamin D in the skin which has only recently been realized to cause many of the neurological illness epidemic such as MS and other diseases thought to be due to heredity. Jim)

"Australians come at you full-bore and lay it on the line," Feely said. ... (They have a lot at stake. Warm ocean currents mean less rain as we experienced in Southeast USA and Galapagos. Jim)

Report: Ocean acidification rising at unprecedented rate

Scientists: Global warming has already changed oceans

Report: Greenhouse gases imperil oceans' web of life

Oceans' growing acidity alarms scientists

Follow the latest politics news at McClatchy's Planet Washington

Zakaria Krugman Ferguson Depression Spend or Not Roosevelt or Hoover

Tags: Zakaria Krugman Ferguson Depression Spend or Not Roosevelt or Hoover

I don’t watch the Sunday news shows on ABC and NBC primarily because it is really hard to learn anything, but just reinforce our previous prejudices.

Fareed Zakaria, still part of the establishment, does ask marvelous questions which does not just get the answer, but has at least a number of good followup questions, sadly missing from Meet the Press and ABC.

Niall Ferguson, Historian, Harvard, believes we must follow the President Hoover model of cutting spending in the middle of a true severe recession among working Americans while corporations have more cash on hand than ever.

Paul Krugman, who supports greater stimulus says we must not follow Japan’s model which has resulted in a recession lasting 15 years so far. Ferguson worries about future inflation. He also ignores that fact that our recession is more than our GDP. Without Financials, which make up 62% of our GDP now because of the recession, our real GDP giving us real jobs is obviously much lower.

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/fareed.zakaria.gps/

Lots of the talking-heads base their discussion as if they understand Keynes theories, but rarely mention the best book on Keynes, Keynes: The Return of the Master by Robert Skidelsky or John Maynard Keynes "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money or The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith with a wonderful new index.

Wealth Track

http://wealthtrack.com/

recommended the book about the people who caused the 1929 Crash and Hoover did exactly what engineers always do, fix the economy the only way he knows by withdrawing funds from the economy.

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, by Liaquat Ahamed, is considered one of the best books on the current crisis. These bankers were considered gods of the financial world. Ferguson is a great talker, but the true base of his analysis is seriously flawed. Dan Fuss, the bond genius at

Loomis Sayles & Company Consuelo Mack that interest rates will start going up in 2011, but you pay attention to the Wall Street chatter, no one really knows. I suspect that if Obama follows the Chicago School model, we are doomed.

Krugman's Nobel Prize was about labor and work. Who shall we believe? Most of Obama's financial advisors came from the University of Chicago school which formulated George Bush's economic policies in the last disastrous 8 years which led to the current crisis.

My take is that the true employment picture is that up to 24% if we count, as we should, those who only have part-time jobs and want more, those not looking for jobs anymore who are not counted, and those out of jobs including those over six months. These unemployed requiring technical skills will lose the ability to get jobs in their area of expertise once they cannot get a job for a year or more.

These nonunion jobs workers get the same pay no matter how many hours the work per day and per week including the weekends. Perfect for corporations, but not for us.

We will also lose our competitive edge over non-USA jobs and our economy will suffer even more. The same problems now exist in Europe. We do not learn from the past because we seem to make the same mistakes time after time.

Jim Kawakami, July 4, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Fructose Sugars High Blood Pressure Cause Corn-Fructose Producers Object

Tags: Fructose, High Blood Pressure, Uric Acid, Cell Death, Inflammation vessels, organs, obesity, high triglycerides

Studies by Richard J. Johnson, MD, Nephrologist, also at the same University in Denver also showed the strong connection with Uric Acid and high blood pressure. “The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That Is Making You Fat and Sick.”

A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

by Hilary Parker, March 22, 2010, http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.

In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.

"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight." http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

Richard Johnson, MD, also reported in the same peer reviewed journals that the metabolism of fructose in our cells uses up ATP,

Wikipedia: … Metabolic processes that use ATP as an energy source convert it back into its precursors. ATP is therefore continuously recycled in organisms: the human body, which on average contains 250 grams (8.8 oz) of ATP[3] turns over its own weight in ATP each day.[4] …

The structure of this molecule consists of a purine base (adenine) attached to the 1' carbon atom of a pentose sugar (ribose). ... When ATP is used in DNA synthesis, the ribose sugar is first converted to deoxyribose by ribonucleotide reductase. … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate

which turns into purine on cell death and the purine is converted to Uric Acid. Recent publications has proved that uric acid inflames the blood vessels which prevents expansion of the blood vessel so blood pressure increases to get enough blood through the vessels. The higher blood pressure in kidneys increases even more much so that kidneys function goes down. It was reported a few weeks ago in the online Nephrology publication. Also when kidney patients are treated to reduce uric acid, kidney deterioration slows down considerably.

jim kawakami, July 02, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Study: High-Fructose Diets May Raise Blood Pressure

Added Sugar May Be Linked to Hypertension Risk

By Denise Mann

WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

July 1, 2010 -- Foods and beverages with high amounts of fructose from added sugar may increase your risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

A type of sugar, fructose is a key ingredient in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Added sugars are found in processed foods such as candy, cookies, and cakes, as well as soda.

For the study, data on 4,528 U.S. adults were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2003-2006. Fructose intake was calculated based on self-reported diet information. Those participants who reported eating or drinking 74 grams of fructose or more per day (which the study equates to 2.5 sugary soft drinks per day) had a higher risk of high blood pressure than their counterparts who got less fructose. The findings took into account factors such as age, smoking history, physical activity level, and salt and alcohol intake.

However, the study doesn’t prove that fructose was the cause for the rise in risk.

A link between added sugars and blood pressure is controversial. There are several theories about how fructose affects blood pressure levels, but none is firmly established. For example, high-fructose corn syrup may raise uric acid levels, which have been linked to high blood pressure.

“Limiting fructose intake is readily feasible, and in light of our results, prospective studies are needed to assess whether decreased intake of fructose from added sugars will reduce the incidence of hypertension and the burden of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. adult population,” conclude researchers who were led by Diana I. Jalal, MD, of the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center in Denver.

Study Flawed, Critics Say

Not so fast, according to The Corn Refiners Association, a national trade group based in Washington, D.C., and others.

The Corn Refiners Association takes issues with the findings and the methodology used in the new study. “The authors failed to learn the true composition of sweeteners used in caloric soft drinks,” according to a statement released by the group. “Caloric soft drinks are not sweetened with 100% fructose. The sweeteners they contain are comprised of almost equal portions of the two simple sugars fructose and glucose, because they are sweetened with either sucrose (table sugar) or high fructose corn syrup (corn sugar).” … http://www.webmd.com/hypertension-high-blood-pressure/news/20100701/study-high-fructose-diets-may-raise-blood-pressure

Iraq Elections Shiite Wants to Cut Sunni Prime Minister Allawi’s Power

Tags: Iraq Stable? Prime Minister's Power Strong American President's Relatively Weak Election Politics, Newspaper and Media Propaganda Getting into High Gear Even MSNBC Increasingly Pro-Corporate, Anti-Obama Slant

McClatchy June 30, 2010, By Jane Arraf, Christian Science Monitor | Christian Science Monitor

Americans often do not realize that Prime Ministers have enormous powers compared to President Obama in running their respective countries. President’s can advise, but Congress, especially the Senate determines what laws pass. With the artificial 60 votes required before a vote on any bill can be passed because of Republican political and ideological rejection of any bill of consequence. In 2009, the number of filibusters by the Republicans were more than double that in one year for previous two year records.

With the corporate newspapers and media now propagandizing against Obama by slanting their emphasis and the order and time they spend on bashing Obama and the Democrats for events caused by the Bush Republicans, Obama and the Democrats must work even harder to get the truth out. Go to www.opensecrets.org to understand where the support by corporations has now shifted dramatically.

Pick the news you want to watch with a certain amount time devoted to understanding the news. Olbermann http://countdown.msnbc.com and Rachel Maddow http://rachel.msnbc.com are good for those too tired or uninterested to read. Since both may intrude on Prime Time shows, the best time to learn is during the summer, after September, the unlimited funds allowed now by the crooked Roberts Supreme Court by corporations, except a boatload of deceptive campaign ads. Plan to switch channels or take the three minute and 1/2 break. I normally record so I can skip the 20 minutes of ads per hour.

Jim Kawakami, July 01, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

… On Tuesday, Iraq's prime minister held a long-awaited meeting with the man who wants his job. But Maliki's Shiite alliance and Ayad Allawi's secular party seem little closer to forming a coalition government. Both claim the right to be prime minister and head a government - Maliki because his alliance formed after the election now holds a majority of seats and Allawi because his Iraqiya coalition actually won the most seats in the March vote.

The deadlock means the only way a coalition government will be formed is by a carefully crafted agreement between the main Shiite, Sunni, and Kurdish factions - a process now expected to last into the fall.

"I think we're still in the preliminary stage," U.S. Ambassador Chris Hill told reporters Tuesday. "I think it's going to be fair to say that any eventual solutions are going to require hard and tough bargaining," said Hill, who might end up finishing his assignment here in September before a new government takes shape.

WHY CURB POWERS OF PM?

Maliki is popular in the street but widely resented by many other political leaders, including fellow Shiites. They accuse him of behaving like a dictator in measures that included setting up separate security services during his four years in power and launching military offensives without consultation.

Adeeb, re-elected to parliament as a member of Maliki's Dawa Party and a firm supporter of Maliki, said their Shiite alliance had agreed on a mechanism that would clip the wings of a new prime minister to prevent such unilateral action.

"We reached an agreement with the national alliance ... in order to restrict or bind unilateral movement by the prime minister," he said. "The prime minister will be the representative of this entity and therefore he should restrict himself to the strategies or the political programs of the alliance."

The Iraqi National Alliance (INA) includes the Dawa Party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, and the Sadr movement - followers of hard-line cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and the biggest single bloc in parliament. The coalition has made clear that it will be guided by the directives of Shiite religious leaders in Najaf.

Allawi is a secular Shiite, but his Iraqiya party includes a large number of Sunnis, which the INA says precludes him from being given a post informally reserved for a Shiite. When the U.S. disbanded the Iraqi Army and banned former Baath Party members from government jobs, Sunnis suffered disproportionately. Disenfranchised and disillusioned, they formed the core of the insurgency and widely boycotted previous elections. The country is still emerging from the depths of civil war three years ago. …

In the streets, Iraqis care less about who will be prime minister or president than whether a new government will deliver health care, electricity, and jobs. Essential services have been a casualty of ministries run along sectarian and ethnic party lines and headed by ministers chosen by patronage rather than competence.

With violent protests this month over electricity cuts, ordinary Iraqis have signaled they've had enough.

"I think there is going to be a lot of political horse-trading," in forming the new government, said Ambassador Hill. "I think the biggest concern is one that a lot of the Iraqi people would have in that the Iraqi health minister should be the one who knows the most about health and the oil minister ought to be the person who knows the most about oil." … http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/30/96830/iraqs-shiite-politicians-would.html