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| Kevin Zeese, an attorney from Maryland, not only spoke out for single payer health care reform yesterday, but was arrested for doing so. Zeese was among the 8 doctors and attorneys arrested at yesterday's Senate Finance Committee "roundtable" on Healthcare Reform in the U.S. Zeese has written an article about the event at OpEd News. According to Zeese, constituents of members of the committee had been voicing their desire (via email, telephone) to have single payer healthcare on the table at this meeting. The answer? A resounding "NO". It will not be on the table. Zeese is Executive Director of the Campaign for Fresh Air and Clean Politics (www.FreshAirCleanPolitics.net) whose projects include Voters for Peace (www.VotersForPeace.US., True Vote (www.TrueVote.US and www.TrueVoteMD.org) and Climate Security (www.GlobalClimateSecurity.org). He is also president of Common Sense for Drug Policy (www.csdp.org). Press release with additional links to video: ( Read more... ) | |
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| (I have been out of town for the past 2 weeks, so posting has been non-existent.)
I am having difficulty wishing people a "happy" new year with everything that is going in in our world: A failing economy resulting in job losses, a housing market crash, budget shortfalls; A broken health care system that continues to prevent families from receiving adequate health care; War-ridden countries and recent escalation of conflict in Gaza; the continuation of planetary destruction with not only the effects of war, but also the sale of land for oil drilling, lack of adequate regulation for pollution generating machinery and equipment and practices, lack of appropriate measures to address global warming, the demise of local businesses due to increasing invasion of large corporate giants, to name a few.
There is so much negative occurring at this time that it is difficult to focus on the positive. Nonetheless, I have generated this list of positive things in my life:
I am thankful that I have a job with health benefits.
I am thankful that I have the skill and knowledge to be able to grow my own food and be self sustaining.
I am thankful that I have resources to help my children and grandchildren right now in the current economic crisis.
I am thankful that I can gain and share knowledge about world events and actually have the ability to do something about some things to effect change.
I am thankful that I am able to provide an education for a little girl in Ethiopia, my small postivie contribution to one life which otherwise is affected by negative circumstances.
I am thankful for my husband who is a constant daily source of friendship and inspiration in my life.
I am thankful for my family and friends here in Utah and across the country.
My hopes for the new year?
That I am able to maintain my health and attitude to continue to work on peace, justice and sustainability issues in my community and beyond.
That at least one person I know who isn't as convinced that big change needs to occur to improve our world will come to the realization that some of the things I mention here do need to be addressed and so they make changes towards that end for themselves and in their community.
That the new administration begins to make moves in the direction towards a more peace and just society and world without war.
That family and friends I know who are without jobs and health care will find improvements in those areas in their lives.
So "happy" new year with these things in mind. Peace on earth. Good will toward all life on our planet. | |
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| It warms my heart when people take an event in the news and turn it into action: www.shoebush.org
JOIN US IN WASHINGTON,DC
January,19th
SHOES FOR BUSH action "For the widows, the orphans, and those killed in Iraq."
send me your old shoes to take to DC. ALL SHOES DONATED to the needy in the DC/Baltimore area and distributed by the DC Greens
On January 20th,tens of thousands of people will be gathering to celebrate the Inaugural of President Barrack Obama.It will be a historical marker and a joyous and celebratory occasion. However, the promise of change, does not mean that we can shut the door, on the past eight horrific years of the Bush administration and wipe clean the images of shear terror, torture and suffering on the faces innocent Iraqis who have faced death and total destruction of their country. Also, it will not be easy for our own families, like Melida and Carlos Arredondo who have lost their child to an unjust and immoral war. Americans of conscience are grieving for our children and for those in Iraq. To watch president Bush leave office, unaccountable is like rubbing salt into a wound. On Monday, January 19th at 11:00 people will be converging at a permitted site near the White House for what may be a cathartic action of hurling a shoe at an image of President Bush. In the spirit of Mutadhar Al-Zaidi and in solidarity with the people of Iraq, we invite you to join us. If you are will be in town for the Inaugural, bring an extra pair of shoes with you! If you cannot be there with us you can send us your shoes and we will take them to DC in a U-Haul. No Bomb-sniffing dogs at our post office! Unfortunately if you send shoes to the White House they are taken to a remote location and the gesture will be for not. We are designating a page on this web site to post the names of people who are collecting shoes in your area. These people will deliver the shoes to collection points where those who will be traveling to DC, by car, will pick bring them up. Please consider writing notes and putting them in your shoes. We will read them at the SHOES FOR BUSH event where documentary film maker Scott Hamann will be recording this historic mass action. Artists are invited to be creative if they choose to create a work of art work with their shoes. ALL SHOES WILL BE DONATED TO THE NEEDY IN THE WASHINGTON/BALTIMORE AREA. A few will be saved for posterity and perhaps we should donate those to the Bush Library. My appreciation goes out David Swanson for his literary contribution and support as well as to Andrew Lehman, Marcia Bernstein and Dana Simpson for their contribution of web site creation, The Washington Peace Center, the DC Statehood Green Party and my activist friends and organizations in DC who are supporting this mass action. Jamilla El-Shafei organizer@shoebush.org | |
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| You can help Food Not Bombs feed the survivors of Gustav
Updated: Monday September 1, 2007
PLEASE HELP! As day breaks this momentous Labor Day, Hurricane Gustav threatens people across the Gulf, and is on track to slam Cajun Country and the Houma Nation west of New Orleans, one of the most culturally diverse places in the continent – where levees are largely nonexistent.
Food Not Bombs is planning to provide meals again for survivors. Please organize with your local Food Not Bombs group or your other local organizations. Help us collect food and supplies to help this year's survivors. The U.S. Government and the American Red Cross were not able to deliver food to the survivors of Katrina, so Food Not Bombs set up kitchens in over 20 cities. Volunteers organized America's largest food relief effort.
We will be providing help for the survivors of Hurricane Gustav just as we helped after Katrina. The American Red Cross, state emergency agencies, and FEMA asked everyone to call our toll free number for food relief. This is an emergency! When the storm passes through the gulf we will provide hot meals on a daily basis. We need volunteers, tools and food to help the people displaced by Hurricane Gustav. We need people to help us repair homes and cook meals for people surviving the hurricane. We also have a meeting place in New Orleans: the Common Grounds 9th Ward Center off the Claiborne Ave exit on I-10 at the corner of N. Claiborne and Pauline in the 9th Ward.
Read more at www.plenty.org
Travel along with Free Speech TV as they cover our grassroots effort
The American Red Cross will be sending Gustav survivors to Food Not Bombs. After Katrina we had many calls from people who tell us that the Red Cross gave them our toll free number. We have been able to help most of the people directed our way. You can help Food Not Bombs support the Hurricane Gustav survivors by making a donation.
Food Not Bombs groups all across the southern United States are feeding families displaced by Gustav. Help us get food and supplies past FEMA. We need clothes, cooking equipment, food, cooks and money to provide for thousands of hungry homeless people. We have no overhead, rent or salaries so every donation goes directly to helping people. Many affected by Hurricane Gustav are familiar with Food Not Bombs because we have been sharing free food in communities through the area for many years. Because we are independent we can take food and supplies to areas where no other agency can reach.
This disaster may last another year or more so we intend to continue setting up Food Not Bombs field kitchens throughout the region. Food Not Bombs is encouraging the refugees to participate in cooking, serving and collecting the food. Their participation may be one of the most therapeutic things we can provide. Tens of thousands of survivors were kicked out of their motel rooms. We believe that many of these people will be living outside homeless. Even if you can't go to the disaster area we need lots of help in your community. The number of people we need to feed is growing all across America as people leave Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama looking for work and housing. We are sharing food every day in your community and all around the Gulf. Please call to see how you can help.
There are some things you can do that can help us respond effectively to this disaster.
1. Organize a meeting this week - calling, emailing and posting flyers about the need for people to help and the day, time and location of the meeting.
2. At the meeting organize groups to call for food donations, another group to call for propane stoves, tanks of gas, tables and cooking equipment. Ask another group to get more volunteers.
3. Choose a time date and location of where your vehicles will gather to take the trip to the disaster area.
4. Collect 25 and 50 pound bags of rice, beans, 25 and 50-pound bags of rice, beans, black-eyed peas, lentils and any other large amounts of dry goods, pasta or non perishable food. We can also use propane stoves, kitchen equipment, toothpaste, soap, shampoo and other personal items.
5. Stay in touch by emailing menu@foodnotbombs.net or calling 1-800-884-1136.
Volunteer to feed the hungry and help the survivors of Hurricane
Gustav by contacting your local Food Not Bombs group or emailing us at:
menu@foodnotbombs.net | |
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| Back in April I was a featured speaker at a rally to protest human rights abuses by the Chinese Government, especially highlighting the Bejing Olympics this year as a year to address those violations and abuses. As the Olympics in Bejing Opens this weekend, there are protests around the world taking place: Dissident decries attendance at GamesHours after returning from a foiled attempt to visit his home country on the eve of the Olympics, Chinese dissident Yang Jianli railed against world leaders participating in the event, particularly President Bush.
"Imagine the situation: The heads of democracies swarmed to Beijing to participate in opening ceremonies which took place under martial law," said Yang, a Harvard scholar and Brookline resident, pointing to the military presence and the crackdown on critics that preceded the event. "Millions of Chinese troops and police are deployed in Beijing and everybody is suspect now. . . . Beijing has become a forbidden city itself."
Yang never made it to Beijing. He never even made it out of Hong Kong Airport. Yang, who was released last year after five years in a Chinese prison, was sent home via Japan, where he had been traveling.Anti-China protests worldwide as Olympics beginWorldwide protests coincide with opening ceremony: Hundreds of Tibetan activists detained in NepalOlympic protests held around the world: Demonstrations take place in cities including London, Hong Kong, Delhi and Kathmandu as opening ceremony begins Thousands take part in global day of protest as Beijing Games open: Toronto demonstrators demand 'Free Tibet'; hundreds arrested as exiles rally in NepalProtesters try to turn spotlight from Games to human rightsSmall pro-Tibet protest pulled off in TiananmenMore articles | |
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| I feel compelled to post a second piece on health care in this country, based on the comment to my post below on insurance. An anonymous poster posted this comment:
Unfortunately many employees and employers wrongly accuse the insurance companies of being the bad guys here. The reason that the insurance companies are asking for this information now is because of the politcal mess and laws that state and federal lawmakers have imposed on the insurance companies. In order for the insurance carrier to properly rate a group financially they must look at the information for ALL ELIGBLE employees. An elible employee is any employee who meets the employers requirements irregardless of if they have coverage elsewhere. Under continuity of coverage laws if someone waives their right to coverage under their employers group plan because they have coverage under their spouses plan they still have the right to join their employers group insurance plan if their spouse loses coverage, therefore the carrier has to rate for potential risk. Many people are wrongly accusing the insurance carriers of responsiblity for this and they need to look at the laws that were passed that prompted this.
I replied that yes, I do feel it is the system that needs to be changed. I am not blaming the workers with the insurance companies, however there is something wrong with this picture. Insurance companies, as this anonymous poster points out, have to abide by regulations. Who makes those regulations? Our representatives. Who are our representatives? For the most part, rich white guys that own large corporations such as insurance companies.
Now hear this:
All private insurance companies need to be phased out. We need to STOP lining the pockets of rich corporations at the expense of human needs.
We need single payer, non-profit health coverage. EVERYONE has the right to EQUAL health services. Health care is a RIGHT, *not* a PRIVELEGE.
HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!!! | |
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| It's kind of creepy to see that retailers have the power to ration food.... http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World By JOSH GERSTEIN Staff Reporter of the Sun April 21, 2008 MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy. "Where's the rice?" an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. "You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous." The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99. "You can't eat this every day. It's too heavy," a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. "We only need one bag but I'm getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it," the elder man said. ( Read more... ) | |
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| While people around the world are fighting and dying for food,
From rice in Peru to miso in Japan, food prices are rising Famine, farm prices and aid: Food for thought
A Hungry World 2008: The year of global food crisis we in the U.S. are promoting the growing crops for ethanol to make alternative fuel Flooding, Food Shortages, Ethanol Boondoggle Good News for AgricultureThe world food market – it doesn’t make sensePaying for biofuels in your supermarket
Until there is no longer world hunger, we need to give up on that idea. If we have to make biofuel, the best way is to use sources that have already been used (like used cooking grease). The best alternative right now also is to have more walkable communities where folks live and work, more bicycles, and better mass transportation. and are continuing to grow meat for food which exacerbates the hunger problem. What if livestock farmers gave up growing grain for feeding the livestock and grew it for people instead? The reason I gave up eating meat was because I learned that it takes more resources to grow food for meat per person than it does to grow food for people. We could feed 7 -10 times more people per acre if we gave up eating meat.
Ironically, I found this article today:
Vegeterianism addresses many needs, problems
Put all of this together with Global Warming:Scientists say world must adapt to warming
and we have a huger than huge mess in our grandchildren's life times (right now it's just "huge").
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| Of course! And wouldn't ya know, it's an election year next year - how conVENient! Excerpts from the article, Utah state government could have an extra $400 million next year, again fueling a tax-cut debate when lawmakers convene in mid-January. "Tax cuts will absolutely be part of the debate" during budget-setting in the 2008 Legislature, which starts in three months, said House Majority Whip Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt, following a meeting Tuesday afternoon of the Legislature's Executive Appropriations Committee. The 2007 Legislature gave a $220 million tax cut. According to the Legislature's Fiscal Analyst Office, which projects state revenues in consultation with other state agencies, the state's two main tax funds are running surpluses that could result in extra revenues of between $246 million and $406 million by the end of the current fiscal year — June 30, 2008. Next year is an election year for Huntsman, all of the 75 House members and half of the 29-member Senate. Lawmakers and Huntsman have given hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts the past three years — including cutting the much-hated sales tax on unprepared food in half. The state's personal income tax has been reformed, lowering the new single tax rate to 5 percent from slightly less than 7 percent. However, many Utahns are now complaining about their property taxes, which are going up across the state by an average 11.6 percent, the first double-digit increase since 1999. The state does not levy a property tax. But through the Uniform School Fund, lawmakers require local school districts to levy a basic property tax to support public schools. And a cut in their property taxes would certainly be welcomed among some taxpayers. That may be so, but lowering property taxes hurts much needed services, like schools, roads, police and fire. I wish people would take their heads out of the sand and look around them. Everyone has their own needs. But many Utahns have needs far greater than those of us who have roofs over our heads, money to buy food and utitilies and ways to get around - you know, basic services.
Surpluses should be used towards those needs not cutting taxes AGAIN which are used for services to address those needs.
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| Yesterday was the first time I experienced the impact of Utah Transit Authority's "new and improved" bus system, which took effect August 26th.
After walking around West Jordan to run errands (there is no bus route available to do this), I needed to take a bus to the TRAX station from my neighborhood in West Jordan so I could travel the 12 miles north to Salt Lake City. What I discovered is that there is NO east west running bus in my area to take riders to the train. The only bus I found was one that runs north south and into Salt Lake City in a part that is far from my destination.
So I walked. And walked. And walked.
It took me one hour from where I was after doing errands to get to a train. I love to walk, so it wasn't too much of an imposition, however I was lucky that I was not on a strict time schedule. What I discovered on my 5 mile walk was that as I meandered through affluent neighborhoods, near big box stores and golf courses, there were plenty of bus stops (for weekday travelers). But what I then found as I wound myself through less affluent neighborhoods - trailer parks and small bungalows in more low income areas - was that bus stops had been completely eliminated (there were signs on former bus stop signs announcing the elimination of them).
Wow.
It is even more apparent to me now who the UDOT bus system caters to. And it ain't the working folks who work trades or minimum wage jobs and it ain't those among them who work to keep businesses open on the weekends.
There's a LOT wrong with this picture.
I'm leaving now on this Sunday to walk to the TRAX station. This time I have a shorter walk - only about 2 miles since I'm leaving directly from my home. There is no bus available for me today.
Good thing it's not raining. And good thing my legs and feet still work. | |
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| The Bushites will not stop at elevating privatization of healthcare:
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families. Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a month-long Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were aimed at returning the Children’s Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.
A "substitute for private health coverage"? I think what they mean is that they don't want the profits of private health companies being compromised by more and more folks becoming eligible for the CHIP program. If thehealth care system in this country wasn't so focused on greed and profit-making at the expense of the health care needs of very single person living in America, there would not be a need for programs like CHIP and there would be no competition for insurance companies because there would be NO insurance companies. Imagine, EVERYONE receiving the health care they need, regardless of income. What a concept. The Bush Administration has left our children behind in many ways. This is yet another example of how Americans are continuing to be screwed. | |
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| Earlier this week I saw an article in the Desert News about Utah Property Tax Rate Hikes. Increases are being sought by at least 22 of the state's 40 school districts, 25 of its 242 cities and towns, five of its 29 counties and 14 special districts.
Many increases proposed this year are huge. For example, five local governments are proposing to at least double their tax rates beyond levels needed to produce the same revenue as last year.
They are: Kanarraville (365 percent, or $173 on a $200,000 home); Garden City (344 percent, or $89); the Uintah Highlands district (183 percent, or $57); the West Millard Mosquito Abatement District (121 percent, or $24); and Woodland Hills (113 percent, or $167).The reasons cited are because property taxes haven't increased in these communities for quite some time. While this may be true, it is also important to note that the Bush administration has continued to provide tax breaks which have primarily benefitted the most wealthy in this country, leaving states with less federal monies which trickles on down into the tiniest of communities. So the recourse is to increase taxes locally that effect the majority of working people. I favor everyone being taxed at rates that are fair for the income people have so that tax money can be then used for providing much needed services for our people. I do not, however, favor this type of sudden tax increase because of the travesty of the current administration in our federal government (after all, this is the root cause of all of this). While the wealthiest people and their corporations in our country enjoy the benefits of not having to pay taxes - or fewer taxes, the rest of us bear the burden of having to make up for the lack of those taxes with absurd sudden fluctuations so that our communities can provide services to citizens. It's just not right. | |
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| Put away the flags BY HOWARD ZINNOn this July 4, we would do well to renounce nationalism and all its symbols: its flags, its pledges of allegiance, its anthems, its insistence in song that God must single out America to be blessed.
Is not nationalism -- that devotion to a flag, an anthem, a boundary so fierce it engenders mass murder -- one of the great evils of our time, along with racism, along with religious hatred?These ways of thinking -- cultivated, nurtured, indoctrinated from childhood on -- have been useful to those in power, and deadly for those out of power. National spirit can be benign in a country that is small and lacking both in military power and a hunger for expansion (Switzerland, Norway, Costa Rica and many more). But in a nation like ours -- huge, possessing thousands of weapons of mass destruction -- what might have been harmless pride becomes an arrogant nationalism dangerous to others and to ourselves.Our citizenry has been brought up to see our nation as different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral, expanding into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy. That self-deception started early.
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| A report on poverty in Utah recently released publishes this information: - 14% of Utahns have no net worth
- People are working more than one job and those jobs aren't paying enough for families to make ends meet
- Utah's poverty rate has gone from 9.4% to 10.2% in the last five years
- The uninsured rate among low-income Utah children grew by more than 90% in the last five years
- Utah renters earn an average of less than $10 per hour while the average one-bedroom apartment requires a wage of nearly $11 per hour
The legislature recently announced a budget surplus. While the governor and others would like to see that money go to teachers - and no doubt some of that money should - it is clear that there are other areas that are in dire need of attention. Human services need top priority. | |
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