July 11, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney has named Rosa Clemente as her Vice Presidential running mate.

‘Progressives for Obama’ Fool Themselves: Barack Obama's rush to disavow the "tag" of the "Left" should surprise no one. For straight language and unambiguously progressive politics, support Cynthia McKinney, who is expected to win the Green Party presidential nomination, this week in Chicago. (Black Agenda Report) July 9, 2008

Yeah, They Did It: Bowing to President Bush's demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government spying and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans. Let it be noted clearly that Barack Obama, who previously pledged to join in a filibuster of any bill that contained telcom immunity, not only didn't join any filibuster attempt, not only voted for the damn bill, he voted in favor of cloture. (Lotus - Surviving a Dark Time) July 10, 2008

'Longest Walk' Reaches Washington: Thirty years ago, 40,000 Native Americans and their supporters participated in an historic cross-country march called the Longest Walk. Commemorating that event, two groups of walkers set out from Alcatraz Island last February. Today the marchers are due to end their journey at the White House and later present a 30-page manifesto to a Democratic Congressman, Rep. John Conyers, who advocates on a wide range of minority issues. (Sky News) July 11, 2008

Indigenous communities in Bolivia and Brazil have declared an emergency in response to the construction of the Madera River Hydroelectric Complex, which Brasilia is pursuing even as independent research efforts try to measure the impacts of what will be one of South America's largest energy projects. (Inter Press Service) July 10, 2008

"Health Care for America Now": Which Side Are They On? (MR Zine) July 10, 2008

May 10, 2008 - Some News, Views, and Info

Indigenous Speak Out Against Carbon Markets (Inter Press Service) May 4, 2008

Two More Gruesome Weeks Under Colombia's Alvaro Uribe (Latin America News Review) May 7, 2008

The Wages of Left Capitulation to the Democratic Party 1 (Counterpunch) April 26/27, 2008

McCain, Clinton, Obama and the Wages of Left Capitulation to the Democratic Party 2 (Counterpunch) May 9, 2008

Polarizing Bolivia: Santa Cruz Votes on Autonomy (Upside Down World) May 8, 2008

Expanded Undercover Investigation Shows Mistreatment of Downer Cows Is Commonplace at Livestock Auctions (Humane Society of the United States) May 7, 2008

Mumia Abu-Jamal Asks: Who's uncle is really crazy? Uncle Jeremiah or Uncle Sam? (Prison Radio) May 1, 2008

Rockefeller Family Fables (Dissident Voice) May 8, 2008

Burger With a Side of Spies: How Burger King Hired a Sketchy Private Security Firm to Spy on Non-Violent Activists (New York Times) May 7, 2008

Sutter Nurses Back on Picket Line

By Deborah Goldsmith and Poly Manoli, Socialist Worker, March 28, 2008

Some 4,000 members of the California Nurses Association (CNA) began a 10-day strike against the Sutter Health network at eight Bay Area facilities on March 20over serious issues of patient care, health care for nurses and medical service redlining.
Sutter, a Northern California non-profit health care network, has been struck by RNs twice already--two strikes in October and December, lasting two days each--over pensions, inadequate staffing and erosion of services.
This 10-day strike brings the issue of patient safety and care to the forefront of the battle.

Continue reading 'Sutter Nurses Back on Picket Line'. . .

Holding Barack Obama Accountable

By Bruce Dixon, Black Agenda Report, February 14, 2008

The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has become a media parade on its way to a coronation. Journalists and leading Democrats have done shockingly little to pin Obama down, to hold him specifically responsible for anything beyond his slogans of "yes we can" and "change we can believe in". Prominent Black Democrats, many ministers and the traditional Black leadership class are doing less than anybody to hold Obama accountable, peddling instead a supposed racial obligation among African Americans to support this second coming of Joshua and his campaign as "the movement" itself. What would holding Barack Obama accountable on war and peace, on social security, health care and other issues look like, and is it possible to hold a political "rock star" accountable at all?

Continue reading 'Holding Barack Obama Accountable'. . .

An Open Letter to the PDA on the Obama Endorsement

By John Halle, Counterpunch, February 4, 2008

As board members, you are aware that on Jan 31, in the wake of John Edwards's suspension of his candidacy, the Progressive Democrats of America announced its endorsement of Barack Obama. Appended to the endorsement was the mild qualification that Obama "has not always been a progressive".
This is not just an understatement, it is an absurdity.
The PDA's "hopes" notwithstanding, where Obama really stands can be seen by comparing Obama's stated positions with the PDA's own seven point "progressive challenge" according to which "candidates should be measured."
On almost all counts, Obama fails.

Continue reading 'An Open Letter to the PDA on the Obama Endorsement'. . .

Interview with Cynthia McKinney on Why She is Running for President and More

San Francisco Bay Area Indy Media, January 8, 2007

Note: The following interview with former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is reprinted from issue No. 268 of the ILC International Newsletter (Jan. 8, 2008), published weekly in multiple languages in Paris. The interview was conducted for the ILC International Newsletter by Alan Benjamin on Jan. 5.
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Question: Sister McKinney, as someone who is running for president of the United States on behalf of the Power to the People electoral coalition, how do you view the recent Iowa caucus?
Cynthia McKinney: I just received a three-page letter from a woman in Tennessee -- a veteran who did three tours of duty in Vietnam. She wrote to say how dissatisfied she is with the level of political discourse in our presidential election, with none of the Democratic or Republican candidates addressing the real issues that she and her family are facing in terms of health care, job offshoring, declining public education, stagnation of wages, and more.
She is looking for real answers and is not getting any from politicians and a media more interested in hype and hot-button issues (such as the "war on terror" or the "war on drugs") than in promoting any serious discussion of policy, much less offering any serious political alternatives.

Read all of 'Interview with Cynthia McKinney on Why She is Running for President and More'. . .

Cynthia McKinney's Challenge to "The War Parties"

By John Nichols, The Nation, November 10, 2007

Cynthia McKinney, who appears to be in the process of reversing an earlier decision to forego a 2008 presidential bid on the Green Party line, has in recent days taken a number of steps toward mounting an anti-war run against the Democratic and Republican nominees next year.
The former Democratic congresswoman from Georgia has got a new website up -- www. runcynthiarun.org -- which seeks campaign contributions "so we can get on with the business of getting Cynthia on fifty-one ballots and reaching out to the voters of this nation who are ready for a Green alternative to the wars being waged both at home and abroad by the War Parties and their candidates."
And McKinney is celebrating the success of supporters in getting her name placed on the ballot for the February 5 Green Party presidential primary in Illinois.

Continue reading 'Cynthia McKinney's Challenge to "The War Parties"'. . .

The Politics of Health Care in California

By Seth Sandronsky, Counterpunch, November 3/4, 2007

The health care business loves politicians who love it with the right kind of reform. Three top lovers are California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, state Democrats Fabian Núñez, Assembly speaker, and Don Perata, Senate leader.

Briefly, health insurers want reform that shifts dollars to them to offset a slide in their employer-based business due to soaring premium prices. The governor's plan to mandate health insurance differs from that of Núñez/ Perata, Assembly Bill 8, which he vetoed on Oct 12. AB 8 has different insurance requirements in terms of who pays and the amount paid. But neither reform gets at the root causes of the health care problem.

Continue reading 'The Politics of Health Care in California'. . .

Also see
http://www.californiansforhealthsecurity.org/

Red Scares and Health Care

PHIL GASPER examines what will it take to win guaranteed national health insurance in the United States
By Phil Gasper, International Socialist Review, November-December 2007

Michael Moore's magnificent documentary Sicko has exposed the gross failures of the U.S. health care system and helped spark renewed calls for a national health insurance program. Despite the fact that the U.S. spends much more on health care than any other country in the world, nearly 50 million Americans lack health coverage and, according to the World Health Organization, the U.S. ranks a miserable thirty-seventh in terms of life expectancy, child mortality, and other basic indicators. Nearly every other industrialized country spends less, guarantees coverage for all its residents, and produces better results.
Polls consistently show that a large majority of Americans support a government-financed national health program.

Continue reading 'Red Scares and Health Care'. . .

Hog Wash: Animal Waste Sparks Tempers and Lawsuits in Midwest

By Anne Borden, LawyersandSettlements.com, July 30, 2007

"Two nights last summer, I had to sleep in my car because of the stink," says Don Peck of Zearing, Iowa. "The stink" that Mr. Peck refers to is the odor from a livestock truck wash at a factory farm several miles from his home.
"My doctor told me to sell my house and move," said Peck, who has respiratory problems he blames on the stench. "I put it on the market last summer but I haven't had a single call."
Like many residents in the rural Midwest, Mr. Peck is coping with the impact of a nearby factory farm. Factory farms are concentrated operations that raise, feed, clean or slaughter animals on a mass scale. As opposed to the family farm, factory farms often crush tens of thousands of animals into small confines, leading to air and water pollution and public health concerns.

Continue reading 'Hog Wash: Animal Waste Sparks Tempers and Lawsuits in Midwest'. . .

Democratic Deceit and Denial on War, Impeachment, Health Care and Prisons

By Bruce Dixon, Black Agenda Report, July 25, 2007

The general problem facing Democratic party leaders can be summed up this way.
How do we get elected one more time without giving Democratic voters any of what they want? How do we get elected without ending the war and the policies which led to it, without impeaching Cheney and Bush, without delivering health care? How do we run a woman presidential candidate who's not quite pro-choice, or a black one who's not really not all that committed to addressing issues like the nation's policies of black mass incarceration?
Unfortunately, they seem to have it all figured it out.
After more than five years of lies and a million dead Iraqis, most Americans are ready to see the troops brought home. But Democratic House and Senate leaders, along with Democratic presidential candidates, except Mike Gravel and Dennis Kucinich, have cynically decided to let the war continue through the rest of George Bush's term in office, to give them something to shadowbox with, proposing ineffectual time lines, irrelevant benchmarks and gimmicks like "more rest for the troops".

Read or listen to all of 'Democratic Deceit and Denial on War, Impeachment, Health Care and Prisons'. . .

Will Sicko Spark a Movement?

By Alan Maass, Socialist Worker, July 6, 2007

Alan Maass reports on the overwhelming response to Michael Moore’s Sicko--and the potential of a movement to win fundamental change.

Continue reading 'Will Sicko Spark a Movement?'. . .

SICKO and Political Health of Michael Moore

By Jon Flanders, MR Zine, July 3, 2007

I saw Michael Moore's SICKO last week. By now who doesn't know that SICKO is a savage and hilarious demolition job on the US health care insurance corporations and their self-serving myths about the national health care systems of countries like Canada and Cuba?
But this is not a review of SICKO. I'll just say go see it and then get involved in the fight for single-payer national health insurance, like the plan embodied in the labor-backed Conyers bill, HR 676.
Soon after I saw SICKO, I rented the recent documentary about Ralph Nader, An Unreasonable Man. In it, we follow Nader's career from crusading young lawyer taking on General Motors to the presidential campaigns of 2000 and 2004.

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What struck me after watching An Unreasonable Man was the "sickening" sight of Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, and others, in the full flood of liberal panic, retreating from their principled and brave support of Nader in 2000. It was excruciating to watch their cringing backing of Kerry and the Democrats in 2004.

Read all of 'SICKO and Political Health of Michael Moore'. . .

Michael Moore and Healthcare

By Ralph Nader, Nader.org, June 25, 2007

He sat there dejected and indignant—twenty years ago—in our office. His position as editor of the monthly muckraking magazine, Mother Jones, had broken up. He was looking for a job that would allow him to bring his conscience to work.
We gave him a place and support to start Moore’s Weekly—a media critique.
Michael Moore has gone a long way since that short-lived publication. He went on to do documentary films, starting with Roger and Me—meaning of course, Michael Moore.
Rich, famous and Hollywood chic, Moore will open his latest film—‘Sicko’ in theatres around the country on June 29, 2007. To many of those who have already seen this indictment and conviction of the corporations that sell health care under an array of tricky conditions, it is his best move yet.

Continue reading 'Michael Moore and Healthcare'. . .

Why Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Romney and Schwarzenegger Don't Support Single-Payer Health Care

By Corporate Crime Reporter, Counterpunch, February 21, 2007

The majority of the American people want a single-payer health care system ­ Medicare for all.

The majority of doctors want it.

A good chunk of hospital CEOs want it.

But what they want doesn't appear to matter.

Why?

Because a single-payer health care plan would mean the death of the private health insurance industry and reduced profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Presidential candidates John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Mitt Romney and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger talk a lot about universal health care.

But not one of them advocates for single-payer ­ because single-payer too directly confronts the big corporate interests profiting off the miserable health care system we are currently saddled with.

Continue reading 'Why Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Romney and Schwarzenegger Don't Support Single-Payer Health Care'. . .