About the only lesson Barack Obama has learned from the Hillary and Bill health insurance debacle of 1993-1994 is to leave Michelle Obama out of his current drive to get something-anything-through the Congress labeled “reform”.Otherwise, he is making the same mistakes of blurring his proposal, catering to right-wing Democrats and corporatist Republicans, who want an even mushier “reform” scam, and cutting deals with the drug, hospital, and health insurance industries.His political opponents become bolder with each day as they see his party base in Congress weakening, his polls dropping, and a confused public being saturated with unrebutted propaganda by the insatiable profiteering, subsidized health care giants.Their campaign-money-greased minions on Capitol Hill and the corporatist Think Tanks and columnists are seizing on President Obama’s aversion to conflict and repeated willingness to water down what he will fight for.The loud and cruel baying pack comes in the form of William Kristol (”This is not time to pull punches. Go for the kill.”), Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) (”If we’re able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.”), and Charles Krauthammer yammering wildly about medical malpractice and tort law. Krauthammer does not substantiate his claims or mention the many victims of malpractice as he gleefully predicts “Obamacare sinking.”All these critics have gold-plated health insurance, of course.Hillary tried to appease the drug and hospital companies. Obama invites them to the White House, where they presumably pledged to give up nearly $300 billion dollars over ten years without any specifics about how this complex assurance can be policed.No matter, in return Obama and his aides agreed not to press Congress to authorize the federal government to negotiate drug prices with the drug industry. Don’t worry: the taxpayers will pay the bill.At a meeting on July 7 at the White House between drug company executives, Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), the industry, according to The New York Times, was promised that the final legislative package would not allow the reimportation of cheaper medicines from Canada or other countries even if they meet our drug safety standards.Since these industry meetings at the White House are private, no one knows how many other concessions were made. What is known is that Barack Obama knows better. A former supporter of single payer health insurance (often described as full Medicare for all with free choice of physician and hospital and the elimination of hundreds of billions of dollars of corporate administrative costs and billing fraud), then-Illinois state senator Barack Obama predicted, in 2003, that it would be enacted once Congress and the White House were controlled by Democrats. Well, that is now the situation, but, as President, he believes single payer is not “practical”.Single payer health insurance is supported by a majority of the American people, majority of physicians and nurses, and nearly ninety members of the House of Representatives. (See H.R. 676 and singlepayeraction.org.)A clear replacement of the private health insurance companies with federal insurance, as Medicare for the elderly did in 1965, allows for clear language. Twenty thousand people die in America each year because they cannot afford health insurance, according to the Institute of Medicine. Hundreds of thousands more suffer because they have no insurance to treat their diseases or injuries.Single payer means everyone is covered from birth, as is the case now in every western nation. Imagine no lives lost or suffering due to no health insurance.Fuzzy proposals, regularly altered and over-complicated due to the hordes of avaricious corporate lobbyists, make politicians like Obama very susceptible to lurid descriptions and lies by his vocal, well-insured opponents.Finally, the Obama people are using “health insurance reform”, rather than the misnomer “health care reform” which opened them up to charges that government would take over health care. All proposals, including single payer, are based on private delivery of health care.Now enters the well-insured libertarian Cato Institute with full-page ads in the Washington Postand The New York Times charging Obama with pursuing government-run health care. A picture of Uncle Sam pointing under the headline “Your New Doctor.” Nonsense. The well-insured people at Cato should know better than to declare that this “government takeover” would “reduce health care quality.”About 100,000 lives are lost from medical-hospital negligence per year, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. This vast tragedy is hardly going to get worse under universal government health insurance that assembles data patterns to reduce waste, enhances quality, and transparency. By contrast, the secretive big health insurers who make more money the more they deny claims, ignore their loss prevention duties.In 1950, when President Truman sent a universal health insurance bill to Congress, the American Medical Association (AMA) launched what was then a massive counterattack. The AMA claimed that government health insurance would lead to rationing of health care, higher prices, diminished choices and more bureaucracy. The AMA beat both Truman and the unions that were backing the legislation, using the phrase “socialized medicine” to scare the people.Fifty-nine years later, “corporatized medicine” has produced all these consequences, along with stripping away the medical profession’s independence. Today, the irony is that the corporate supremacists are accusing reformers in Washington of what they themselves have produced throughout the country. Rationing, higher prices, less choice, and mounds of paperwork and corporate red tape. Plus, fifty million people without any health insurance at all.On Thursday, July 30, 2009, there will be a mass rally for a single payer system in Washington, DC. It is time to put what most Americans want on the table. (See www.Healthcare-Now.org for more information.)
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Monday, July 20, 2009
Contacts:
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Theresa El-Amin, North Carolina Green Party, 919-824-0659, teagreenparty@aol.com
Hillary Kane, Green Party Annual Meeting Committee, 267-971-3559, hillarya@upenn.edu
George Friday, Forum Moderator and Co-Chair, North Carolina Green Party, 862-668-8172, ippn@igc.org
The Green Party will present a public forum on the need for a Single-Payer health care funding system on Friday, July 24 from 3:30-4:30pm as part of their 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, North Carolina. The forum, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Miller-Morgan Building on the North Carolina Central University Campus. The building is located on Nelson Street, and is accessible from Fayetteville Street.
QUOTES FROM FORUM PRESENTERS:
“Making a decision about the clear benefits of Single Payer is very simple when we put the health of our family and neighbors at the center. Here in the Triangle the shadow of Blue Cross & Blue Shield which employs nearly 5,000 residents and claims over 3.5 million “participants” looms so strong over our representatives at the State House, that consideration of what would truly be the best for all of the state’s residents is clouded at best. We have to make the voices of the millions who know and live the need for real reform heard over the rhetoric and “spin” of well paid lobbyists and public relations specialists.” George Friday, Forum Moderator and Co-Chair, North Carolina Green Party
“Nearly every industrialized country of the world, and some countries whose economies may be described as “developing” or “emerging”, recognize the right to health care by funding quality, affordable health care through a single, national funding source and guaranteeing access to health care by law. The US, on the other hand, has the highest per capita health care expenditure in the world, and it significantly lags behind other Western countries in health care quality (according to the World Health Organization) and in major indicators of health, such as life expectancy and infant mortality. Continued reliance on any form of employer-based private health insurance will perpetuate the low quality and the poor outcomes of our health care system regardless of the empty promises of the insurance industry and corporate health care institutions.” Dr. Jonathan Kotch, Board President of Health Care for All NC and senior faculty member at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
“President Obama says that he wants to bring down health care costs and expand coverage for all Americans. Yet health insurance legislation recently proposed by Congress will only increase costs by adding more layers of bureaucracy while leaving large numbers of Americans uninsured. The plain truth is that for-profit health insurance and its administratively wasteful smorgasbord of plans must go. Single payer is the only plan that will provide all Americans with health insurance while significantly reducing costs.” Dr. Justine McCabe, Co-Chair, GPUS International Committee, former Co-Chair, Green Party of CT, and Ph.D. alumna of Duke University
Reporters will have an opportunity at 3pm to meet and interview the forum speakers in advance of the event. For more information about the event and speakers, see http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM%20FORUM.html.
National meeting web page: http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM.html
Media credentialing page for the meeting: http://www.gp.org/forms/media
Single Payer Campaign Page: http://www.gp.org/campaigns/health/single-payer/
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
International Committee of the Green Party: http://www.gp.org/committees/intl
Drug War Chronicle: Medical Marijuana: US House Overturns Barr Amendment, Removes Obstacle to Implementing 1998 DC Vote | 07.17.09 |
The US House of Representatives Thursday passed the District of Columbia appropriations bill and in so doing removed an 11-year-old amendment barring the District from implementing the medical marijuana law approved by voters in 1998. Known as the Barr amendment after then Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA), the amendment has been attacked by both medical marijuana and DC home rule advocates for years as an unconscionable intrusion into District affairs.
GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org
For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org
Theresa El-Amin, North Carolina Green Party, 919-824-0659, teagreenparty@aol.com
Hillary Kane, Green Party Annual Meeting Committee, 267-971-3559, hillarya@upenn.edu
National meeting at North Carolina Central University takes place July 23-26
McKinney, now in Egypt on the Viva Palestina convoy, will discuss relief missions to Gaza and her recent imprisonment in Israel with the Free Gaza 21
National meeting web page: http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM.html
Media credentialing page for the meeting: http://www.gp.org/forms/media
WASHINGTON, DC — The Green Party’s 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, North Carolina, will feature a visit from former US Representative and 2008 Green presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney and a forum on health care reform among several events to which reporters, bloggers, and photographers are invited.
The meeting will take place Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26, on the campus of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham. More details about media events at the meeting will be announced and posted online in the coming week.
NCCU, the nation’s first public liberal arts institution founded for African-Americans (http://www.nccu.edu / map: http://www.nccu.edu/formsdocs/proxy.cfm?file_id=393), is celebrating its 100 year anniversary. For information about Durham, visit the city’s online Visitors’ Guide and Information Center (http://www.durham-nc.com). Reporters are encouraged to visit the media credentialing page for the meeting (http://www.gp.org/forms/media).
An opening press conference on Thursday, July 23, at 4 pm will welcome members of the media and introduce the meeting. Two press conferences on Friday morning will feature Green candidates, officeholders, and party activists, with a special emphasis on Greens in North Carolina (http://www.ncgreenparty.org) and the party’s Black Caucus leaders.
On Friday afternoon, 3:30-4:30 pm, the Green Party will present a public forum on health care reform and the need for a Single-Payer national health care program (http://www.ncgreenparty.org/2009-ANM%20FORUM.html). Reporters will have the opportunity to meet and interview the forum speakers.
On Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm, Cynthia McKinney will speak in the Miller-Morgan Building’s main auditorium at NCCU about her recent efforts, with the Free Gaza Movement and Viva Palestina, to bring medical and other supplies to Gaza in the wake of Israel’s brutal invasion. Ms. McKinney and other Free Gaza human rights activists were aboard the Spirit of Humanity when it was seized by Israeli gunboats. The ‘Free Gaza 21,’ including Ms. McKinney, were held in a prison in Ramla, Israel, until their release last week.
Ms. McKinney is currently in Egypt on a Viva Palestina convoy to Gaza, which has been held up by the government of Egypt. According to Viva Palestina’s July 12 update, “The Viva Palestina members who spent the night in their buses at the Suez Crossing after being stopped by Egyptian authorities on July 11 have now rendezvoused in Cairo with British Member of Parliament George Galloway and former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who has rushed to join the convoy following her deportation from Israel on Wednesday.”
For updates on Viva Palestina and more information on the Free Gaza 21, visit the following sites: Cynthia McKinney’s blog: http://dignity.ning.com Ms. McKinney’s Green Party page: http://www.gp.org/cynthia/index.php Viva Palestina: http://www.vivapalestina.org Free Gaza Movement: http://www.freegaza.org Green Party press release page: http://www.gp.org/press.php
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Green candidate database and campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections
International Committee of the Green Party: http://www.gp.org/committees/intl
Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog
~ END ~
From UrbanSurvial.com :
The Next ‘Battle for Washington’
We begin this week with a note from a very savvy private investor that’s worth sharing:
For several decades, the financial players have had a wonderful time playing the game of Three Card Monte. Instead of having just three cards on a sidewalk stand or three walnuts and pea, they’ve had a half dozen regulators and literally a hundred countries to hide in.
Why else would the AIG Financial Products operation be set up in London, allegedly supervised by the US Office of Thrift Supervision, and write private insurance contracts called Credit Default Swaps on US mortgage bonds issued by unregulated non-bank finance companies owned by Wall Street brokerages? Lots of walnuts, just one pea (the risk), and literally dozens of street corners where the pea could be hiding, that’s why.
The new Agency proposed by Barney Frank would put a stop to the game of choosing the weakest regulator, and then hiding in some corner of the world that prizes financial secrecy. It would regulate activities, not institutions, and that would spoil the fun.
Imagine if we had regulated mortgage lending from a single authority, no matter who makes the loan? Perhaps the trigger to the meltdown, the subprime mortgage “business” and its evil derivative spawn (CDO and CDS) would not have turned into a threat to the entire world economy. After all, roughly 90% of the subprime mortgage bonds were issued by virtually unregulated entities controlled by Wall Street and a handful of “non-bank” finance companies like Ameriquest, New Century and Countrywide.
It’s time to put aside the foolishness that blames banks for the subprime meltdown, since the entire banking industry had only about 10% of the business. While we’re at it, forget blaming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, since they never guaranteed any subprime loans, and actually lost market share to the “private label” business in the crucial bubble years from 2003 - 2007. Finally, let’s put a stake through the evil political heart that tries to blame the Community Reinvestment Act. Unlike subprime (or even prime) loans, those CRA loans performed BETTER than expected, because the banks that made those loans held onto them and kept the risk for the full thirty years of the loans. CRA mortgages are the kind of loans that so many conservative pundits think our entire banking system should make — you know, where a local bank loan officer knows the borrower and the neighborhood, and makes a loan based on character, collateral and capacity to pay, and then takes 100% of the risk if the borrower can’t or doesn’t pay. It should be no surprise that CRA loans performed far better than subprime loans, and better even than some of the so-called “prime” loans that banks originated but then sold about thirty seconds later.
I don’t care if you call yourself a bank, an insurance company, a mortgage bank, a Wall Street broker-dealer, or a marching band — if you made residential mortgage loans, those loans will be subject to the mortgage regulations and examination by the mortgage regulator. If some hedge fund wants to claim they are really in Anguilla and not Connecticut, then they should be able to make all the mortgage loans they want to Anguillans, secured by Anguillan property. If they want to lend to people in the US secured by houses in the US, they should be subject to US mortgage rules, period.
If you write insurance policies in any of their forms, then the insurance regulators can look over your books. Calling the insurance contract a derivative CDS under the Commodities and Futures Modernization Act just doesn’t cut it.
If you sell stocks and bonds to individuals, then the new consumer protection replacement for the SEC looks at your stock and bond operation. I imagine a few of Stanford’s “Antiguan CD” buyers wish our SEC had made sure those bonds he was selling were legit. But the SEC is hopelessly compromised, given the professional career path every SEC employee hopes to follow. There is absolutely no personal professional future in protecting consumers from unbridled greed at financial institutions “regulated” by the SEC.
So now it’s easy to understand why a multi-million dollar propaganda campaign is cranking up to keep the regulators balkanized, to preserve those cracks in the system that allowed short term profits to be created by virtually unregulated subsidiaries, offshore trusts, special purpose vehicles and private over-the-counter transactions. Credit is the lifeblood of capitalism, and the Vampire Class needs its pools of darkness to keep feeding on the sheeple.
Don’t be surprised to hear your own elected representatives spouting slogans like “keep consumer choice” or repeating unsupported conclusions about how it will make credit more expensive for all of us. As if anything could be more expensive than several percentage points sucked out of our entire economy accounted as phantom bankster “profits”, paying very real bankster bonuses like an unregulated, uncapped tax on breathing.
Bear in mind that political contributions are the trump cards of politics, and your vote means squat to a Congressman faced with the chance to buy enough TV time to buy thousands of your neighbor’s votes, especially if all he has to do is resist the formation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Besides, it’s proposed by a Congressman that millions love to hate, and it sounds like more Big Government. What could be easier? The banksters are gathering in Washington, and they brought their checkbooks to buy the best government they can afford.
OK, let’s take a spin through media and see how the spinning is going in efforts to keep regulation and meaningful reform from happening. A few headlines from this morning:
“Elitist Protection Consumers Don’t Need” says a column in the Washington Post. Say, isn’t this the same Washington Post that was headlined in the UK as the “Washington Post sorry for ethical lapse’?
In fairness to the WaPo, they did report last week that “Industry takes aim at plan to create financial protection agency”. Facts versus opinions…OK, I’m down with that.
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times headlines that “Debate heats up on financial regulatory reform.”
And my fave of the week so far on this? “Banks may lose $1b in penalty fees owing to new law” headlines TopNews.
Yeah…and the problem with that is what? ‘Bout time consumers get out from playing bottoms all the time.
Yet another argument for single payer health care is making sure that everyone, including our veterans, get a basic modicum of health care.Bill Scheurer | Beyond the Yellow Ribbon: Hope for Returning Veterans http://www.truthout.org/071009A?nBill Scheurer, Truthout: “Extensive information in the popular and scientific press shows that veterans are ‘falling through the cracks’ of our medical system. In a strange new twist of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ military culture, many veterans do not tell physicians about their military service and health care practitioners do not ask.”
This is what happens when the corporations are left in control too long. They not only turn on the citizens and what is left of representative government- they turn on themselves.Behold, the latest in idiocracy:
Al Lewis: Wells Fargo Bank Sues Itself
Friends,Your help is urgently needed. Please, everyone, take a few minutesto contact your Members of Congress and urge them to write a letterto the U.S. Parole Commission by TUESDAY, JULY 14, on behalf ofLeonard Peltier. Use fax or e-mail. You may also consult yoursenators’ and representative’s Web sites for telephone numbers.Get started now.<http://www.FreePeltierNow.org/congressmaster.htm>Please also contact the following Members of Congress who havesupported Peltier in the past to urge them to immediately write aletter to the U.S. Parole Commission.–> Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Chairman, House Judiciary Committee. Call202-225-3951.–> Sen. Daniel Inouye via the Committee on Indian Affairs at (202)224-2251; <comments@indian.senate.gov>. A SHOUT OUT to Minnesota:Remember that your new senator, Al Franken, is the newest memberof the Committee on Indian Affairs. Drop him a line, too.–> The members of the Congressional Black Caucus at 202-226-9776;<congressionalblackcaucus@mail.house.gov>. Remind them of thecongressional briefing with the CBC on the Peltier case on May17, 2000. A number of the members supported Leonard a decadeago and must do so again. They can help to educate their newermembers, as well. But time is of the essence. Members of specialnote include Rep. John Conyers, Jr., (MI), Rep. John Lewis (GA),Rep. Maxine Waters (CA), and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC).The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee also hasasked that all supporters contact Speaker of the House NancyPelosi to urge her also to renew her commitment to Leonard’sfreedom. Contact the Speaker of the House at 202-225-0100.Or use e-mail: <http://speaker.house.gov/contact/> or<AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov>. San Francisco constituentsmay also reach Ms. Pelosi at (415) 556-4862 or at her DC office(202-225-4965).—–Additions :)Sample Letter :)United States Parole Commission5550 Friendship BoulevardSuite 420Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286(Insert Date)Re: LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132Dear Commissioners,Convicted in connection with the deaths on June 26, 1975, of Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Leonard Peltier remains imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.The court record in this case clearly shows that government prosecutors have long held that they do not know who killed Mr. Coler and Mr. Williams nor what role Leonard Peltier “may have” played in the tragic shoot-out.Further, in a decision filed by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals on December 18, 2002, Mr. Peltier’s sentences “were imposed in violation of [Peltier’s] due process rights because they were based on information that was false due to government misconduct,” and, according to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in 2003: “…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Leonard Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.”Despite these admissions, Leonard Peltier has served over 33 years in prison.After careful consideration of the facts in Leonard Peltier’s case, I have concluded that Leonard Peltier does not represent a risk to the public. First, Leonard Peltier has no prior convictions and has advocated for non-violence throughout his prison term. Furthermore, Leonard Peltier has been a model prisoner. He has received excellent evaluations from his work supervisors on a regular basis. He continues to mentor young Native prisoners, encouraging them to lead clean and sober lives. He has used his time productively, disciplining himself to be a talented painter and an expressive writer. Although Leonard Peltier maintains that he did not kill the agents, he has openly expressed remorse and sadness over their deaths.Most admirably, Mr. Peltier contributes regular support to those in need. He donates his paintings to charities including battered women’s shelters, half way houses, alcohol and drug treatment programs, and Native American scholarship funds. He also coordinates an annual holiday gift drive for the children of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.Leonard Peltier is widely recognized for his good deeds and in turn has won several awards including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award; Federation of Labour (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement. Mr. Peltier also has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize six times.Leonard Peltier is now over 60 years of age—a great-grandfather—and suffers from partial blindness, diabetes, a heart condition, and high blood pressure.I recognize the grave nature of the events of June 26, 1975, and I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of those who died that day. However, I find aspects of this case to also be of concern and I believe Leonard Peltier deserves to be reunited with his family and allowed to live the remaining years of his life in peace. I also believe that, rather than presenting a threat to the public, Mr. Peltier’s release would help to heal a wound that has long impeded better relations between the federal government and American Indians.Thank you for your time and consideration.Sincerely yours,Signature(Your Name)(Your Street Address)(Your City, State, and Zip Code)IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL SUPPORTERS: When you write a letter in support of Leonard’s parole, mail the letter directly to the U.S. Parole Commission, but also please send a copy of your correspondence to the Peltier Legal Team, c/o LP-DOC, P.O. Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106.Time to set him free… Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.Friends of Peltierhttp://www.FreePeltierNow.org
Washington Post article:
“Proponents of creating a housing and redevelopment authority in Arlington County
are planning to appeal a judge’s ruling that struck down their proposal
for a ballot referendum in November, prolonging and escalating a battle
over affordable housing that dates back several decades.
Arlington Circuit Court Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick ruled last week that a
proposed referendum on whether to create a housing authority was
illegal under a new state law that toughened the requirements to get a
measure on the ballot. A similar referendum proposal in November failed
by 2 to 1; similar referendum questions were defeated in 1958 and 1982.
Josh Ruebner, a member of the Arlington Green Party, which has been pushing
for a housing authority in the face of opposition from much of the
county’s political establishment, said the party will consult with
lawyers “to figure out the best appeal strategy.”
“The Arlington Green Party is committed to pursuing all of our available legal options
in order to place a referendum on the ballot this year,” said Ruebner,
a two-time candidate for the Arlington County Board who is running this
fall for the Virginia House of Delegates in the 47th District.
Read more here: